Previously on WMD, we had mentioned the race for Brown County Recorder. In that race, we mentioned the race was being run above board and with little acrimony and vitriol. We mentioned that we could not endorse in that race because both women are qualified and have great accomplishments. Mark himself had previously said it would be a toss-up. It is shaping up to be a close race, and last day mailers are beginning to heat up.
In this mailer, there are two pictures...one, a color, posed studio pic of Mariah Votel with her name in bold and saying "local Businesswoman". The other pic is a blurry, black and white photo of Amy Jo DeClaire with her name not bolded but her position as "Clermont County Govt. Employee" bolded.
The implication here is that Amy Jo DeClaire is some carpetbagger and is really a Clermont County plant. That is not true. She, like Mariah, is a native Brown Countian who has spent most of her life in the county. Why resort to this type of insinuation? Amy Jo quit her job as a Clermont County employee to run for this office.
Next, we have a compare and contrast again with Ms. Votel's name in bold and Ms. DeClaire's not. Ms. Votel's name is checked for all the following statements and Ms. DeClaire's is not:
Endorsed by the Brown County Republican party
Elected President fo the Brown County Republican Club
Elected as a Republican Central Committee Member
Century Member of the Brown County Republican Club (financial contribution)
Represents BROWN COUNTY's Interests
OK, the first four statements are provable and correct. The last one is a cheap shot, again insinuating that because Amy Jo worked in Clermont County she doesn't have Brown County's best interests at heart. Well, if that is the case, one might question Ms. Votel as she only recently, once she had decided to run, became a local businesswoman. Before that, she worked out of town in Cincinnati for a company. Does that mean she didn't have Brown County's best interests at heart until she wanted to run for office? We could go further to ask if Mariah thinks giving money to the party means she is owed the office? I don't think this way and I don't think Mariah does. Do you see what I am saying about these type of lowball assessments of character? It is just not helpful and I have yet to see anything resembling this level of character hitting from the DeClaire campaign.
Look, I understand. This is politics. It is hardball. However, we are supposed at the end of the day to be on the same side. Warren Wagner and Connie Patrick in the Treasurer's race haven't sunk to this level, and neither has Rick Eagan in his race for Commissioner vs. Randy Fulton. I haven't seen Dwayne Wenninger put out a mailer like this in his race vs. Don Newman. I think the tactics here for a primary in a county race where there should have been little acrimony are a little much and resemble juvenile name calling and casting aspersions on character that are not necessary. I think this was in poor taste and these type of tactics are just not kosher.
