When Republicans Attack (Each Other)
It doesn't get much nastier than this among Republicans. In a tightly fought GOP primary for a swing House seat in Oregon, one candidate is now openly accusing the other of paying for a younger woman's abortion.
Yesterday the campaign of former state Rep. Kevin Mannix sent out a 2006 e-mail in which a woman accused businessman Mike Erickson of impregnating her friend and then bringing her to an abortion clinic in 2000.
The two women first tried to air the complaint during Erickson's 2006 run for the seat, but declined further interviews until now.
Erickson is denying the story in the strongest terms: "These unsubstantiated and untrue allegations are from an e-mail from 2006 that no news media reported at the time. They are just as untrue today as they were then."
For his part, Mannix insists he didn't really want to talk about this. "Rarely have I been confronted with such a difficult decision as to whether to proceed with something of this nature," Mannix wrote in his letter. "But what is on the line here is the character of the person who will represent you in Congress."
The seat is currently held by Democrat Darlene Hooley, whose retirement could put at risk a district that voted narrowly for President Bush in 2004. Erickson has led in polls of the GOP primary.
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!
May 13, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
lololololol!
May 13, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
In any other year, with an open seat, this would be a good opportunity for a Republican pick-up. But in 2008, there's a good chance Republican turn out will be reduced anyway, especially in Oregon, and this utterly unsourced allegation helps reduce it further.
May 13, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now, I guess I know what it's like to be a spectator at a chicken fight.
May 13, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's ugly and sad- democrat or republican;Another anectode of our politics in gutter.
Disgusting.
May 13, 2008 1:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Stay classy, Portland suburbs. What a couple of embarrassments.
Mannix is one of these perennial politicians who just want to desperately be elected to anything - run for Congress this year, Secretary of State, next year, throw up a couple of ballot measures just to stay in the papers. If he goes to represent any part of Oregon in Congress I'll be greatly depressed.
Erickson is just a straight-up conservative. He's running ads straight out of 1994. That district has elected Hooley (a dem), but people seem to think it has shifted as it is suburban and more conservative. With anti-GOP sentiment this year, it may well stay Dem.
May 13, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
last i checked abortions were still legal. so what we have here is somebody (allegedly) paying for a perfectly legal medical procedure in which no laws were broken.
so whats the problem?
May 13, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well you know the GOP is the party of morals. As they have consistently demonstrated for the last 8 years. (Abramoff, Delay, Craig, Vitter, Foley, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc)
May 13, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
im just wondering if there are any other stories out there about this candidate about laws he didn't break...
May 13, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
That district hasn't shifted much at all. Hooley won a tiny victory over Bunn, in part because of some problems in Bunn's private life (as I recall, it was a long time ago), and has maintained her seat because she's a good advocate for people in her district. It's been considered a conservative district and there's a strong possibility it will revert to the GOP this fall, which is why Mannix and Erickson are fighting so hard now.
May 13, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
doog, did you happen to read what you have posted? Sounds to me like this guy is the last person any self-respecting person would want to stay away from. Imagine espousing anti-abortion stands then if your in a peccadillo, you push for an abortion. Sounds suspiciously like a double standard to me. Besides as long as the Republicans continue to kill off each other, the more Democrats will be elected. Not sure exactly what your political thoughts are, but this guy appears to be a creep and does not deserve much consideration. But one always wonders if any of us could stand the sort of attention and scrutiny that goes on in an election.
May 14, 2008 6:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
One thing I've noticed about the nature or Republican attacks on each other, they seem confined to religion grounded wedge issues. Nothing of substance, ever. For Republicans, substance is like garlic juice thrown in the face of a werewolf.
May 13, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Hooley kind of screwed the dems by suddenly announcing she was not going to run again and not having a replacement candidate lined up.
May 13, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Erickson is self-funding a vanity campaign, as he did in 2006. What was fascinating in '06 is that he never mentioned the word Republican in his general election ads.
Mannix is a tired old hack of the kind you always find poking their fingers in state politics. He has a very expensive 'anti-crime' initiative on the ballot in the fall, so even if he loses the primary he won't go away.
I've read that the increase in Democratic party registrations this year has given the district a slight Dem edge, and the Dem candidate is a well respected state legislator, so it has a decent chance to stay Dem.
May 13, 2008 3:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Those of us in Oregon find this too funny. Mannix exudes desperation so badly voters can smell it; he's run for everything in sight and lost, and you can practically see the sweat under his armpits as he gives it another try. He used to be a Democrat, which he would probably be again if it would get him a steady job. As BBpdx said upthread, Erickson seems to have been frozen back in 1994 and thawed out for this race. He's all no-taxes-ever and limited government, as if the last decade never happened. He's rich enough to be pretty much funding himself. The prospect of the two of them trashing each other to death warms my heart.
May 13, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Smell the desperation" is right.
This guy's greatest fear is a real job. Or more specifically the failure to secure a real job.
May 13, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not the suburbs in that district that are so conservative, I think, it's the agricultural area, Marion County, places like Gervais and Brooks.
Marylin Shannon, who gained temporary national notoriety as "the nasty woman with the Purple Heart tattoo in the AP picture that ran everywhere," represented Brooks in the state legislature for a while, if memory serves.
Taylors Ferry Road in SW Portland is part of the northern border of this district, incongrously bringing the southwest corner of Portland into it.
May 13, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I must be some Prius driving elitist because my first thought was "He paid for the abortion and drove her to the hospital? How considerate! That's so much better than trying to deny the person ever existed and making them fend for themselves."
May 13, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mannix wrote in his letter. "But what is on the line here is the character of the person who will represent you in Congress."
Yes it certainly is Mr. Mannix.
By the way, does he have a friend name Angel?
May 13, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hypocrisy is the key here. In 2006 Erickson had the endorsement of a local anti-abortion group (don't know if he does this time).
The timing here is very interesting. Since Oregon is a vote-by-mail state, the voters have had their ballots for about a week and have to get them in exactly one week from now. Yet many in Oregon have known about this since 2006 (at least).
May 13, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
As a former Oregonian, I remember Mannix as being a very "desperate" politician. He acts like he's ethical, but he would probably do anything to get elected. I'm not suprised he would try to make an issue of this. He's a joke and an embarrassment for the state. I'm sorry to hear Hooley is stepping down. I voted for her when I lived in Wilsonville many years ago.
May 13, 2008 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink