Iowa GOP Forces Own Candidate Out Of Party
It seems that the Iowa GOP leaders in Des Moines decided to “help” with a campaign in southern Iowa – in a way so disgusting that it forced their canddiate to drop out of the party and declare himself to be an Independent.
Kevin Wiskus, a candidate for Iowa House District 94, has switched his party affiliation from Republican to Independent following what he said was a “shocking and tasteless” mass-mailed brochure attacking his opponent. The move, he said, was in response to a brochure from the Republican Party of Iowa attacking current state Rep. Kurt Swaim, D-Bloomfield.“I do not support any kind of attack campaign tactics,” Wiskus said. “Voters should be able to choose between qualified candidates based on individual merits. At no time should voters have to make a choice based on which candidate can throw the most mud.
“Though I had no prior knowledge of this vicious attack on you, I ask that you please accept my most sincere and humble apology to you and Julie,” he wrote in an ad to appear in the Centerville Daily Iowegian.
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“You deserve an apology from the Republican Party,” begins Wiskus’ ad in the Daily Iowegian. “Since he will not get an apology from the Republican Party of Iowa, I would like to apologize to Kurt.”
Mr. Wiskus appears to be a rarity in modern politics: someone who values personal integrity over partisan attack politics. The Iowa GOP flyer accused the incumbent Democrat Kurt Swain for being “soft on crime”, highlighting Mr. Swain’s record as a public defender (where he had the duty to defend “sex offenders”) and for voting for a bill sponsored by Republicans, of all things.
Statehouse candidate denounces brochure
Of course, on WOI radio, the chair of the Iowa GOP referred to the brochure as “voter education” – apparently missing out on the idea that a decision made in Des Moines wasn’t well recieved in the rural counties.
- Sousy
