Wait, wait, don’t tell me

September 23rd, 2008 at 12:11am Chuck Sweeny

Poor old Ron Wait. The long-time state represenative who lives in Belvidere seems to attract awfully nasty advertising from his occasional opponents.

When Republican Wait first ran for the office against the now-deceased fellow Republican Jim Kelley, an appointed incumbent, Kelley ran a radio commercial against Wait in the GOP primary that was so ridiculous in its negativism it was a stereotype of the whole genre. I can still remember it: “He’s a teacher who doesn’t teach, a farmer who doesn’t farm, a lawyer who doesn’t practice law, and he lives in a big house with his mommy.” The ad worked, but not the way Kelley intended — Wait won.

When Democrat Barb Giolitto challenged Wait many years later, the Dems ran an add that morphed Wait into a “fat cat.” Giliotto beat Wait that year, but two years later he came back to defeat her.

This year, Democrats think they have a chance to beat Wait once again, with Rockford lawyer Greg Tuite.

And  so state Dems are pouring money from party coffers into the race, mailing oversize postcards that portray Wait as a friend of sex offenders, because in 2005 Wait posted $500 bail for a friend’s son who had been jailed on a sex-crime charge against a minor. The person was later convicted and is serving a five year sentence.

Republicans have hit back with a TV ad, which has people saying they’re tired of Tuite’s negative campaigning.

But Capitol Fax reports that the Wait TV ad takes an “unusual” turn:

“With his campaign failing, Greg Tuite has resorted to negative attacks that have been called misleading, full of half truths and false,” the ad asserts.  The source cited in the ad is the Illinois Review, a partisan Republican blog.

That’s not the problem, however.  The problem is that the Illinois Review post cited is simply a verbatim reprint of a Ron Wait campaign press release.”

Thanks to Cap Fax for pinning the tail on the elephant.

 

Entry Filed under: Wait