Cardon's Campaign Responds

In the today’s media, the emphasis on attack journalism is an unfortunate reality every political campaign must account for at every turn. It appears the Prescott eNews is no exception when it comes to favoring broadsides. Having for months spent no time at all covering the issues and the substantive differences between Congressman Jeff Flake and conservative challenger Wil Cardon in the race for Arizona’s U.S/ Senate seat, today the eNews posted an attack on what it called the Cardon’s team “dishonest campaigning.”

The one thing missing from these many column inches of vitriol? Any proof of dishonesty by Cardon or his campaign team.

Instead, the publication takes Wil to task for, among other things, asking Flake to sign a pledge promising to reject super PAC money and outside expenditures in the campaign – a pledge Flake has refused to address – and challenging Flake to a one-on-one debate, to highlight the candidates’ differences on issues like amnesty for illegal immigrants (Flake supports it), energy taxes (Flake proposed one) and Senate Bill 1070 (Flake heavily criticized it).

The eNews also rehashes at length a months-old point about the Cardon campaign using a Photoshopped image of Flake and President Obama to underscore the truth about Flake and Obama’s lockstep similarity on immigration policy. Stop the presses! Imagine that: A TV commercial that uses a creative image to make a point. Surely that’s never happened before in the history of either advertising or politics.

Unfortunately, while the editorial purports to embrace a “robust discussion of the issues” because such a discussion is – and we quote – “like a hearty meal to the political junkie,” we never get any such thing in the piece. Among the issues we at Cardon headquarters would love to see discussed?

• Where does Flake stand today on amnesty for illegal immigrants and the DREAM Act, issues he has supported vocally in the past?
• Now that the centerpiece of SB1070 has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, will Congressman Flake finally offer his support to Arizona as it attempts to deal with the heavy costs of illegal immigration in our state?
• Will Flake continue to advocate for a carbon tax meant to modify Americans’ behavior – or will he instead embrace freedom and a lowered tax burden for families who can’t afford to pay more for fuel amid an economy that continues to sputter?

Frankly, we could go on at great length – as our campaign has every day for months – about the issues that matter to Arizonans. We could talk about Wil’s plan to create jobs and his two decades’ experience in the private sector, or about his commitment to securing the border and his ardent defense of traditional family values. The thing is, we get it: The media would rather talk about email blasts and TV ads than cover what’s in those forms of communication.

Meanwhile, voters are on their own, forced to end run the press to find out the facts on their own. To that end, please visit Wil’s web site at www.wilcardon.com today and find out about the issues.

Thank you for your time and for the chance to respond. Oh, and we should note the part of the editorial we really liked: Where the writer said of Wil and his family, “he's very nice, he remembers names rather well, his wife is charming and his kids are adorable.“

We’re not sure why that’s an issue in this campaign, but, hey, we couldn’t agree more.