(Above: the latest online Club for Growth ad utilizes a segment of Paul DeMarco’s appearance on the Matt Murphy Show)
State Rep. Paul DeMarco (R-Homewood) has had a tough two-week stretch in his bid to become central Alabama’s next congressman.
After finishing the Republican primary well ahead (33%) of second place finisher Gary Palmer (19%), DeMarco submitted a lackluster performance at the runoff’s first debate on June 19th.
His campaign responded on June 24th by running an ad attacking his opponent for his position on taxes. The ad was widely panned for being disingenuous because it used a partial Palmer quote to make it appear that he supported then-Gov. Bob Riley’s Amendment 1 proposal, often referred to as the largest proposed tax hike in Alabama history. The part of the quote that was not included made it abundantly clear that Palmer opposed Amendment 1, although Palmer has conceded that in 2003 he believed the State of Alabama was in need of more revenue.
On June 29th during an appearance on the Matt Murphy Show, DeMarco was taken to task by the host for being “deceptive” and refusing to directly answer the question of whether he’s ever sponsored a tax increase.
Today, Fox News commentator and RedState.com founder Erick Erickson tweeted a harsh critique of of DeMarco, along with YouTube video containing a portion of DeMarco’s interview on the Matt Murphy Show.
Paul DeMarco. Wow. What a nightmare that guy would be. https://t.co/7dlJJxz0cb
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 2, 2014
Club for Growth, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative group that has endorsed Gary Palmer, turned the Murphy Show segment tweeted by Erickson into an ad that they are promoting online.
“Paul DeMarco can’t answer with a simple yes or no to the question of whether or not he ever sponsored tax increases, so Alabama voters should say no to Paul DeMarco,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Slippery politicians like Paul DeMarco who don’t tell the truth about their record of support for tax increases are part of the problem in Washington, which is why Alabama conservatives are supporting taxpayer hero and true conservative Gary Palmer for Congress.”
The DeMarco campaign pushed back hard against the criticism today, calling the Club for Growth a group of “Washington insiders” and pointing to an article by Red State contributor Dan Spencer calling Gary Palmer a “non-starter.”
“Funny, because Erickson’s own site, RedState, called Gary ‘a non-starter’ for his ‘Obama-like’ stance on taxes,” DeMarco campaign spokesperson Rick Journey told Yellowhammer. “The last time I looked, Gary continues to rely on his Washington insider buddies at Club for Growth while Paul DeMarco has been the clear choice of Alabama conservatives.”
DeMarco also took exception to an article written by Birmingham News reporter Chuck Dean titled “Twenty years from now what will Paul DeMarco tell his son about deceptive ad?”
In the article, Dean criticized DeMarco’s aforementioned ad, which Dean characterized as “deceptive, to be nice about it,” and rhetorically asked what DeMarco would say to his newborn son in the future if he ever asked, “Well dad, what did you do to fix it?”
DeMarco responded with an op-ed published Wednesday on AL.com.
“Today we are all sick. Sick at the state of so-called journalism. Sick that lies and character assassination are so common that they go unnoticed in political discourse,” DeMarco wrote. “Mostly, I am sick that a so-called journalist found a way to use a newborn child in a political attack and that it was an Alabama newspaper rather than some out-of-state news organization.”
“A so-called ‘journalist’ who would involve the newborn son of a family in a political attack is low,” DeMarco continued. “One who would do it to reclaim lost relevance, or push for something as petty as higher taxes, is sad.”
The 6th Congressional District runoff is set to take place July 15th.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
