This is a follow-up to Eric's excellent article on the same topic. I had a few things I wanted to add. :)I didn't think it was possible, but the Linda Smyth campaign has hit yet ANOTHER new low. At this rate, she's going to be so low that she could dig the Tysons Tunnel with her teeth.
Seriously, though, for a local supervisor's race, this has got to be about the most dishonest and hypocritical fliers imaginable.
First off, the flier is dishonest because it misquotes the referenced Washington Post article in about a half dozen ways. This is an amazingly impressive record of dishonesty for a half-sheet of paper. Wow.
More on the flip
Second, this piece of garbage is hypocritical because, YES IT IS TRUE, Linda Smyth has voted in three Republican primaries, and according to NLS, had a Jane Woods (R) sign on her property in 1999. Nice, huh?
Plus, according to Becky Cate, Smyth publicly acknowledged in 2003 that she voted for Elaine McConnell (R) over Kate Hanley (D). As if all that's not enough, strong rumor has it that Smyth headed a group called "Republicans for Connolly" in 1999.
Given all these Republican links for Smyth, you wouldn't think she'd authorize a flier urging voters to protect "our Democratic primary" from Republican interference. Apparently, Linda Smyth has no shame whatsoever.
Back to dishonesty: Smyth's mailer implies that the Post article is a big expose' on Charie Hall's supposed Republican strategy. Of course, this raises the question: if the article is SO damning to Hall, why does he post it on his campaign website? Hmmm, perhaps because the article happens to be wildly unflattering to Smyth, who is stamped as Connolly's "protege" and as a person so lacking in identity that she has to answer the question of whether she's Connolly's puppet? (side note: this "puppet" allegation led Smyth to snap and reveal her true colors, issuing her now infamous "bite his head off" comment)
In contrast, as Charlie Hall said at the recent forum that Linda skipped (of course), "It's my hope that after four years in office, nobody will be asking me if I'm Gerry Connolly's puppet."
Back to Linda's flier from hell. In addition to dishonesty and hypocrisy, a full reading of this garbage shows several factual errors.
For starters, the flier claims meetings (plural) between Charlie Hall and "high Republican officials." In reality, Hall had ONE meeting with ONE official, Tom Davis, which Hall discussed in depth in his RK live blog and which didn't amount to a hill of beans. How many times has Linda Smyth met with Tom Davis?
Second, feel free to compare Bill Turque's article (relevant sections at the end of this piece) with the Smyth description in her flier from hell, and decide for yourself whether she's reinterpeting it a bit, ahem, "liberally."
Third, the accusation that the Hall campaign has been "recruiting Republicans" is simply an outright lie. Point blank, Charlie Hall's campaign has made no effort to target Republicans. The fact is, most of the issues (gridlock, good government) Hall is raising in his campaign aren't particularly partisan anyway, which probably explains why Smyth is being criticized by both Democrats and Republicans alike for secrecy, sprawl, etc. But Smyth's charge about Republican recruitment is simply ludicrous.
Just a couple more comments, and then I'll conclude this tirade against Linda Smyth and her Karl Rove-like campaign tactics.
1) When Gerry Connolly says that Charlie Hall has "no known Democratic credentials," what Democratic credentials did Linda have in 2003, when Connolly personally appointed her as his replacement?
2) There's nothing wrong with switching parties, as Jim Webb has shown. But I know Jim Webb. Jim Webb is a friend of mine. And Linda Smyth is NO JIM WEBB! In contrast, Linda's lack of recollection ("I can't recall") about her Republican past reminds me a lot more of Alberto Gonzales than of Jim Webb.
3) My understanding is that Smyth's been polling relentlessly. You think the fact that Linda's come out with this smarmy hit piece so late in the game might just indicate that she's not liking the number she's seeing. Hmmmmmmmmm.
4) Finally, do you think this super-negative campaign crap might have something to do with the fact that Linda has so little to brag about on the actual issues? For instance, the most recent Washington Post piece on the Hall-Smyth election is so unflattering to Smyth that the Hall campaign is actually printing it in its entirety in their last fliers this weekend. It is sad, and revealing, that having failed to handle the issues that matter to Providence voters, longtime Republican Smyth has sunk to the leval of accusing a REAL, lifelong Democrat of being a closet Republican!
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, "if Smyth can't handle the truth, what else can't she handle?" Apparently, a great deal, which is why Smyth's trying to win re-election by resorting to (really bad) fiction. For anyone who's still undecided in this race, perhaps this lying-flier-from-hell incident clarifies the crushing need for a reform Democratic movement in Fairfax County?
Turque article:"Charlie Hall has no known Democratic credentials," said Connolly, who normally extols as a virtue the board's bipartisan consensus on major issues.
Hall said newsroom guidelines at The Post, where he worked as a reporter and part-time copy editor from 1985 to 2005, barred active involvement in partisan causes. He did acknowledge, however, that he and other activists met with Davis for 45 minutes in his congressional office in January to discuss politics in Providence. Hall, who said the meeting was arranged by someone else, said he had been considering running as an independent and wanted to know about the chances that a Republican would join the race, which would make an independent candidacy less attractive. He said Davis described the chances as low.
The issue infuriates Hall, who said that he has voted Democrat his whole life and that Connolly "has spent a hell of a lot more time in Tom Davis' company in the last six months than I have." His campaign produced records showing that Smyth voted in Republican primaries in 1988, 1989 and 1996.
"Meanwhile the other side is questioning my fitness as a Democrat," he said. "It seems like an odd tack to take. Anybody looking at my fundraising would see that if I had a congressman behind me, I'd be in a different boat." Smyth enjoys a commanding edge, $77,856 to Hall's $3,685, according to the latest reports.
Smyth said she has "no recollection" about 1988 and 1989 but confirmed that she voted for U.S. Sen. John Warner (R) in his 1996 primary.
"I thought John Warner deserved support," she said.
Also got a robocall (Have I mentioned recently how much I hate those things?) from Gerry urging me to vote for you know who.
She must not win. It will put the democratic party in Fairfax County on the same level as the slimy republican party that we are trying to defeat.
Anyone who cares about real democratic values will support Charlie Hall.
Charlie Hall is totally forthright and honest. His writing and commentary are thoughtful and infinitely reasonable.
Linda Smyth doesn't remember voting Republican, claimed she didn't get the debate invitation despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and sends out slimy, negative campaign mailings. Her commentary (on the rare occasions when you can catch it) is mind-numbingly standard political rhetoric.
Thanks for exposing these stark contrasts between the two candidates.
And as one voter said to me, anyone who has to deny being a puppet whose demise may bring down the puppetmaster has a "whole heap of trouble in her lap."
I guess Linda's response when facing a "whole heap of trouble" is to spin and distort the factual record, but tell me, even leaving aside Charlie's merits as a Supervisor, do we really want a leader who has so little regard for the truth?
Some questions answer themselves. It's just hard to believe she is really making Charlie's case FOR him!
Longtime Adversaries Reach Notes Of Harmony
Davis, Connolly Alter Tone
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 25, 2007; B02
It wasn't your usual meeting of the Mantua Citizens' Association, a central Fairfax County neighborhood group that, even its president concedes, hasn't had many attention-grabbing items on its agenda recently.
Standing shoulder to shoulder and answering questions at Mantua Elementary School one night last week were the two alpha dogs of Fairfax politics, U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, the county's top Republican, and county Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), the dominant Democrat. Each smart, ambitious and constantly wary of what the other is up to, they are beginning their third decade as partisan adversaries.
Their joint appearances are almost always obligatory, ceremonial occasions. Yet there they were, at the invitation of the neighborhood group, not debating but making serious nice -- agreeing on a variety of topics, including immigration policy and the impact of military base realignment, and describing what a close, productive relationship they have.
"People hate the bickering and the posturing. I don't think you'll find that with us," said Davis, who likes to depict Connolly as beholden to the county's development community. He mentored and helped to finance Connolly's 2003 election opponent, Mychele B. Brickner.
Connolly, who openly covets Davis's congressional seat and has accused him of selling his soul for special interest money on Capitol Hill, said of transportation issues: "I don't think there's any daylight between Tom's position and mine."
Each has reasons for trying to change the adversarial tone of their relationship. For Davis, they fall into the category of holding enemies closer than friends. He is a Republican in an increasingly Democratic county that makes up two-thirds of his 11th Congressional District, and his reelection percentages dwindled from 82.9 percent in 2002 to 55.4 percent in 2006.
With Davis's aspirations to be the next U.S. senator from Virginia, warmer relations with Fairfax's leading Democrat are in his interest. It's also worth noting that in visiting Mantua Elementary School, site of the political play date Jan. 17, Davis ventured almost literally into Connolly's back yard. Mantua is the neighborhood where Connolly lives with his wife and teenage daughter and where his career in local politics first gained traction.
Davis is also concerned about the fortunes of his wife, state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-Fairfax), whose 34th District includes Fairfax City, Vienna and western and central portions of the county.
He infuriated Connolly in 2005 when he intervened in the debate over plans for a massive residential development next to the Vienna Metro station. Although he said traffic was his major concern, some county board members said he sought, unsuccessfully, to roll back the number of planned condominium apartments and townhouses because he feared they would be filled with Democrats.
Because Devolites Davis is at risk -- she is one of the Northern Virginia Republicans targeted by Democrats, who hope to retake control of the state Senate in November -- Davis could be looking to depress Democratic turnout in the 34th. One way would be to stay out of the 2007 chairman's race, lessening the chances that Connolly would have strong opposition.
Only one possible GOP competitor in the chairman's race has surfaced so far, Gary H. Baise, a lawyer who has long been active in party politics but is untested as a candidate.
For Connolly, a thaw might yield similar benefits. Having Davis less involved with his opposition -- if there is any -- would be a plus. At the same time, cordial relations with the moderate Republican strengthen his bipartisan appeal.
"There's a tendency to love [Connolly] or hate him," said Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully). "[Davis] is perceived as less partisan." It is also the reason, he said, that Connolly is eager to see Republican supervisors Elaine N. McConnell (R-Springfield) and Joan M. DuBois (R-Dranesville) reelected in November.
Connolly "loves to trumpet his bipartisanship," Frey said.
Davis, who had dinner with Connolly a few weeks ago, scoffed at the suggestion that he has negotiated some kind of nonaggression pact. What's playing out, he said, is the natural push and pull of the political cycle.
"You won't find two more partisan guys than [Connolly] and me at election time," he said. "But now people expect us to work together."
He also didn't rule out playing the same role this year that he played for Brickner, whom Connolly handily defeated in 2003. "We'll see what develops and who comes forward."
Connolly did less to discourage speculation about a warming of relations. "I think we understand each other better and have more mutual respect for each other's abilities," he said.
The two have crossed paths, and swords, for more than 20 years. In 1986, Davis was a Mason District supervisor getting ready to run for a third term when Connolly, then a neighborhood activist, first made noises about challenging him.
Ultimately, Connolly ran against Devolites, Davis's then-future wife. He defeated her twice in one year: in a special election in March 1995 for Providence District supervisor -- a vacancy created when Katherine K. Hanley was elected board chairman to replace Davis, who had been elected to Congress -- and again that November. The two bruising races left a residue of ill will that remains today, colleagues of both say.
Also, she manages to add several more lies to her long list of them, this time claiming that: 1) Charlie Hall wants to "reverse the Board's progressive transportation policies" (what "progressive transportation policies" and how does Charlie Hall want to "reverse" them exactly? huh?); 2) Hall opposes the Metro extension (no, actually Hall and his supporters simply oppose a no-bid, super-secret, $5 billion, no-smart-growth, aerial-option version of this project); 3) Hall urges voters to "choose the candidate who shares your views about Metro" (that's DEFINITELY NOT HER, but she uses language to pretend that it is...sneaky).
Connolly fears having a voice of the citizens on the Board who firsts looks at the facts rather than his the campaign coffer. Unlike Smyth-Connolly, ordinary citizens are financing Hall's campaign, not the Tysons/rail/development interests.
What finally prompted me to write is the latest flyer that claims Charlie Hall was "recruited" to run by an unnamed group that wants to stop the Board's "progressive transportation policies". After I stopped laughing at the idea of this Board having any progressive transportation policy, I realized that there were no facts to support her assertation. This smacks of desperation and more negativity.
In the same flyer, she asserts that she supports a tunnel through Tysons. But didn't the Board of Supervisors just unanimously agree to go forward with the project regardless of whether or not a tunnel would be built?
Enough flyers Linda--we just want the facts!