THE CAPITAL TIMES: Spencer Black says Hulsey has "problem with trustworthiness"
I had previously indicated that I was intending to vote for the entire Democratic ticket. At this point, I am rethinking how I intend to vote in the Assembly race. ~ Spencer Black
. . . . Welcome to the District 77 race on Madison’s west side, home of one of the more intriguing endorsement controversies of this election cycle.
First, the Cliff’s Notes summary: After a debate on campus last week where Democrat Brett Hulsey mentioned several big-name supporters, including Tammy Baldwin, an enterprising student opinion columnist called the Baldwin office to confirm that was true.
There may have been a tip (or even a hunch) involved, as I’m pretty sure most people don’t go through a candidate’s often-lengthy list of supporters to double-check them, but interestingly enough, when Sam Stevenson of the Badger Herald (who has supported Manski in his writing) did check in with Baldwin’s office, he found that Baldwin wasn’t planning to endorse at all in the race between Hulsey and Green Party candidate Ben Manski because she considered both of them “progressive candidates.”
Hulsey has since said to the Daily Cardinal and in a formal statement to me that he misinterpreted a congratulatory call from Baldwin after his primary night victory as an endorsement, but Manski challenges that explanation, saying that Hulsey has a history of playing up questionable endorsements in this election. . . .
Things quieted down for a few days after that, but then Friday afternoon, current District 77 Rep. Spencer Black spoke out that Hulsey’s campaign had used a made-up quote from him urging voters to choose Hulsey because he “will continue my progressive and environmental tradition,” “create jobs, make our schools better and safer, and promote cleaner energy and lakes.” The quote was attributed to Black despite his specifically saying not to do so, Black says, and used in a brochure and briefly on Hulsey’s website. Made-up quotes are not unusual in the public relations industry, but using them without permission is, for obvious reasons, a faux pas.
Black says in an interview that he was “shocked” when he saw the false quote and that he had originally told Hulsey that “I will say what I have to say in this race.”
Black forwarded an e-mail to me sent on Friday morning to Hulsey in which he says this incident is an example of why Hulsey has a “problem with trustworthiness.”
“You can’t use a statement that I didn’t write. I don’t let people put words in my mouth,” Black writes. “You can’t assume someone says something that they didn’t or a Congresswoman endorses you when she doesn’t.”
Manski says these misrepresentations of Hulsey’s support show that the Democratic candidate “has a problem with the truth.”
“There have been six incidents like this at least,” Manski says in an interview. “This is somebody who believes that he doesn’t have to be honest with the voters and that he can claim support that he doesn’t have.”
Manski interprets the Baldwin endorsement issue as a sign that Hulsey is trying to appear more progressive than he is and that progressive Democrats in office may actually prefer Manski, but don’t want to endorse outside of their party.
“The question that raises is if in fact the Democratic legislators would prefer to serve with me,” he says. “I’m not somebody who’s in a position to go around threatening people’s careers and it’s not in my nature to do so. (Democratic politicians) have little to lose by endorsing Brett, but they haven’t done so.”
For Hulsey’s part, campaign manager Ben Tobias says Hulsey had no further comment about the issue, but says for himself that Hulsey has “overwhelming” support from elected officials and “the fact that Manski is still harping on this betrays his failure to gain traction on any substantive issue with District 77 voters.” To be fair, Hulsey has garnered plenty of Democratic endorsements, including state Rep. Terese Berceau of Madison, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach of Middleton, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, Governor Jim Doyle and state Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, among many others locally and statewide.
Manski, despite being a member of the Green Party, has nonetheless siphoned off several Democratic endorsements, including Secretary of State Doug La Follette, former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and many local politicians at the city, county and school board levels that hold Dane County Democratic Party membership. Manski also has a point that at least a few prominent Democrats, including Pocan and Baldwin, have chosen not to endorse in this race when they have done so in other races and that others, such as Black, have provided lukewarm endorsements. Whether Black will continue to endorse Hulsey after his most recent incident remains to be seen. [ED NOTE: In a subsequent statement to The Capital Times, Rep. Black said that, “I had previously indicated that I was intending to vote for the entire Democratic ticket. At this point, I am rethinking how I intend to vote in the Assembly race.”]
. . . Whether the endorsements (or lack thereof) mean anything in next week’s election remains to be seen. Hulsey has said his polls show him leading comfortably, but Manski says his own poll reveals a dead heat with a large percentage of undecided voters. While the history of the district is strongly Democrat, voting 4:1 for Barack Obama over John McCain in 2008, Manski is quick to point out that past races involved very different choices for candidates.
“We don’t know what the natural inclination of the district is because there hasn’t been a contest like this,” Manski says. “I think there’s a real sense that I could win this election and that would be a very meaningful event.”
The fact that the choice between the leading candidates is nuanced from a policy standpoint may make Hulsey’s recent missteps even more costly next Tuesday -- while there is often little recourse for a voter who likes a candidate’s general policy positions but dislikes his or her political tactics, having two progressives in the race gives progressive voters a legitimate choice and may make the fallout from this past week more significant . . . .
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