In the Republican Primary for Georgia’s 12th Congressional District Lee Anderson has demonstrated he is very different from his three Republican opponents Rick W. Allen, Wright McLeod, and Maria Sheffield.

And not in a good way.

Lee Anderson has, in effect, made the primary a three person race for conservatives based on four instances where he demonstrated a negative approach to the campaign which disqualifies him from serious consideration.

 


1: Walking Away from Ethics

Lee Anderson attended the press conference held by the Ethics Alliance, made up of various organizations concerned about the state of ethics under the Gold Dome, as an alleged co-sponsor of House Bill 798, the Ethics Reform Bill, on January 12, 2012.  

Lee Anderson was identified as a co-sponsor by one of the primary organizers of the press conference and allowed himself to be promoted as such.  Lee Anderson even spoke at the press conference and reminded everyone he was running for Congress.

Subsequently, lobbyists made it known that anyone who supported House Bill 798 and Ethics Reform would not be supported in the campaign efforts with campaign contributions.

For reasons only he can explain, and he needs to explain, Lee Anderson is no longer listed as a co-sponsor of House Bill 798.

There are multiple articles from reputable media organizations pointing out the only remaining Republican supporting House Bill 798 is state Representative Tommy Smith. The conservative leaders, who organized the press conference, have held a subsequent press conference and given many interviews pointing out that only state Representative Tommy Smith remains from House Republicans.

It is one thing for a Republican state Representative to have not yet made a commitment to House Bill 798. But, to show up at the press conference, stand with the conservative leaders, trying to suggest you are a conservative, trying to earn conservative support, and then to remove yourself once the insider, establishment lobbyists tell you to…well, that is betrayal.

Lee Anderson has walked away from Ethics, the Tea Party and Georgia Conservatives. This is a prime example of insider, establishment politics.

Worse, when House leaders introduced an alternative Ethics Bill Lee Anderson failed to co-sponsor this moderated legislation.

What is of particular concern is Lee Anderson may have violated an existing ethics rule at the initial press conference. Lee Anderson was attending in his capacity as an incumbent state Representative – not as an announced candidate for Congress. Lee Anderson was receiving a salary paid for with taxpayer dollars to attend the press conference. The moment Lee Anderson injected his political campaign into his remarks, he, ironically, demonstrated the need for ethics at the state Capitol and damaged the credibility of all those organizations who invited him to speak.

2: A Misleading Poll

On January 26, 2012, the following was posted on the Lee Anderson for Congress Facebook Fan Page:

“A new poll out today shows that I am leading in the race for Congress.” In a typical, political move, Lee Anderson wants reporters, donors, and voters to believe there is a legitimate poll showing him with a lead in this campaign.

The truth is that Lee Anderson paid a vendor to do a poll.  It comes as no shock the vendor found a way to imply the person paying him is winning in his own poll. 

3.Lee Anderson’s Reserved Ignorance

This was the headline Lee Anderson earned from Forbes Magazine on Forbes.com going viral across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Rarely does a candidate in a primary make national and international news, but Lee Anderson has managed to do so. 

Just not in the manner in which his campaign team wants to promote.

At a Statesboro forum Lee Anderson was asked whether he would try to change the Federal Reserve or abolish it if elected.

“We must build our reserves even stronger than what it is now … on the federal level,” Anderson replied. “On the state level, we are building back our reserves up now.”

The question was asked by a young high school student who is close friends with the son of GOP 12th District Chair Lawton Sack and who was attending with Chairman Sack.

Unfortunately for Lee Anderson the Statesboro Herald was in attendance and reported this answer and posted this video:

http://www.statesboroherald.com/multimedia/3918/

However, when contacted by the Augusta Chronicle for a comment on the clip – again, posted by the Statesboro Herald, Lee Anderson decided to launch a blanket attack against all three of his Republican primary opponents:

From the Augusta Chronicle: When contacted by phone for comment about the clip, Anderson said, “They’re trying to be dirty already. They can play dirty politics. I go the high road. I run a positive campaign.”

 

It really is ironic just as it is clear Lee Anderson does not understand the issues surrounding the Federal Reserve it is apparent he either did not understand the clip was posted by the Statesboro Herald or he did not care and decided to try and deflect by attacking his opponents.

The record should show that the first candidate to attack in this primary is Lee Anderson as he attacked the character of Rick W. Allen, Wright McCloud, and Maria Sheffield. An attack which is not justified based on the evidence.

4. Endorsements – Clarified

On March 12 Lee Anderson posted on Facebook: I have earned the public endorsement of 207 community leaders and local elected officials in every county across the new 12th. 

Sounds great.

The only problem is this list was misleading at best.

For reasons only Lee Anderson can explain, he allowed a list to go out with dozens of names of both elected officials and community leaders who not only have not endorsed him, but in some cases are actually supporting one of his opponents.

Several of these elected officials either face or might have a primary opponent themselves. There have been multiple instances where these incumbent Republicans have expressed anger at Lee Anderson for including their name without their permission. They believe Lee Anderson decided to exploit them and potentially cause them problems with in their local primary for his own personal promotion.

In several instances, certain community leaders who are active with organizations who need to be professionally positive with all the candidates found their names on this list after receiving Lee Anderson in their office on a courtesy first time “meet the candidate” meeting. The same type of meeting the person has hosted for all the other candidates in the primary. Again, Lee Anderson put several people who represent organizations and causes in the awkward position of having to call the other campaigns to explain that they have not endorsed Lee Anderson.

Harder for Lee Anderson to explain to activist Republicans is why a large number of the people on the endorsement list are well known elected Democrats.

While it is important to have Democrats support a Republican in the General Election what has puzzled several Republican leaders is why Lee Anderson has to rely on such a large amount of support from Democrats - who are working against other Republicans in the district.

Certainly Lee Anderson enjoys the support of some number of those who names were listed but there were many who had no idea they would be included because they have not endorsed Lee Anderson.

5. Why This Matters

The National Republican Congressional Committee has declared Georgia 12 to be a Top Five Targeted Pick Up Race. There will be a serious, multi-million dollar effort to defeat Congressman John Barrow.

Who the Republican nominee is matters in this district.

Of the four candidates three of them are conducting themselves in a professionally appropriate manner. Rick W. Allen, Wright McLeod, and Maria Sheffield all are running campaigns which, while competitive, seem focused in a traditionally honorable pattern.

With Lee Anderson it appears there is a pattern of negative actions which give the appearance of abandoning, accusing, and exploiting others for the singular purpose of advancing his political campaign.

Republicans in Georgia have four choices in the primary, while We Are Politics continues to assert that Maria Sheffield remains the front runner based on her conservative grassroots support and her electoral strength in the district in 2010, Rick W. Allen and Wright McLeod also deserve consideration as serious credible candidates.

Sadly, Lee Anderson, through a series of unfortunate negative actions, has demonstrated he is not in the same class as Rick W. Allen, Wright McLeod and Maria Sheffield.