Alonzo
05-13-2008, 04:59 PM
A racially charged document, distributed by national Democrats on the eve of Mississippi’s special House election, ties the Republican candidate in the race to the Ku Klux Klan in a last-minute effort to win the crucial contest Tuesday.
Republicans immediately decried the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) flier as despicable and desperate and said the charges are untrue.
The document, posted Monday by a right-leaning political blog in Mississippi, states that GOP candidate Greg Davis “wanted to honor the founder of the KKK with a statue in Southaven,” where Davis serves as mayor.
“Davis supported moving the statue of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan and first Grand Wizard from Memphis to Southaven after civil rights leaders tried to have it taken down,” says the document, which features pictures of two African-Americans with stern looks on their faces.
The fliers contain the required disclaimer stating that they were paid for by the DCCC.
Davis is locked in a tight battle with Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers (D) for the former House seat of appointed Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). Childers beat Davis 49-46 three weeks ago, but the race headed to a runoff since neither candidate got a majority.
Davis campaign spokesman Ted Prill said the mailer is “a complete falsehood and a lie,” and maintained that Davis never said that he would have taken the statue of KKK organizer Nathan Bedford Forrest from Memphis, where it had become controversial.
“They called and asked Mayor Davis if he had any interest in any of the statues … and Mayor Davis basically said, ‘You know I’d take the statue of Jefferson Davis, because it’s part of history,’ ” Prill said. “The mayor next door in Horn Lake said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take 'em all.' One of those happened to be [Forrest].
“It’s completely untrue to say that Greg Davis wanted the [Forrest] statue in Southaven.”
The Memphis Commercial Appeal, which is cited in the flier, reported in 2005 that Greg Davis and Horn Lake Mayor Nat Baker “said they would gladly accept the statues here in DeSoto (County) if Memphis didn’t want them.” The statues being referenced are those of Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, but the story does not elaborate on who agreed to take which.
In a previous story, the Commercial Appeal specifically said Greg Davis would be willing to display the Jefferson Davis statue near City Hall in Southaven and that Baker said he would take the Forrest statue “in a heartbeat.”
The Jefferson Davis statue was also considered controversial, but he is not known for ties to the KKK.
The DCCC stood by the flier.
“The flier is factual, a part of the public record, and has been in the press many times -— voters deserve to know Davis's record,” DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said in a statement.
Republicans, however, blasted the campaign strategy.
“This is a despicable move even for the DCCC,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). “False accusations and race-baiting politics have no place in our public discourse, and if Democrats want to continue to pursue this line of attack, then it will backfire in November.”
Childers spokesman Terry R. Cassreino distanced the campaign from the mailer: “It’s not from our campaign, and we know nothing about it. We are totally focused today on reminding as many voters as possible to get out and vote.”
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dccc-links-davis-to-kkk-founders-statue-2008-05-13.html
Disgusting accusations, and so is the insistance that they're true by the DCCC. He never even commented on that, the other mayor, Baker, did.
Republicans immediately decried the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) flier as despicable and desperate and said the charges are untrue.
The document, posted Monday by a right-leaning political blog in Mississippi, states that GOP candidate Greg Davis “wanted to honor the founder of the KKK with a statue in Southaven,” where Davis serves as mayor.
“Davis supported moving the statue of the founder of the Ku Klux Klan and first Grand Wizard from Memphis to Southaven after civil rights leaders tried to have it taken down,” says the document, which features pictures of two African-Americans with stern looks on their faces.
The fliers contain the required disclaimer stating that they were paid for by the DCCC.
Davis is locked in a tight battle with Prentiss County Chancery Clerk Travis Childers (D) for the former House seat of appointed Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). Childers beat Davis 49-46 three weeks ago, but the race headed to a runoff since neither candidate got a majority.
Davis campaign spokesman Ted Prill said the mailer is “a complete falsehood and a lie,” and maintained that Davis never said that he would have taken the statue of KKK organizer Nathan Bedford Forrest from Memphis, where it had become controversial.
“They called and asked Mayor Davis if he had any interest in any of the statues … and Mayor Davis basically said, ‘You know I’d take the statue of Jefferson Davis, because it’s part of history,’ ” Prill said. “The mayor next door in Horn Lake said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take 'em all.' One of those happened to be [Forrest].
“It’s completely untrue to say that Greg Davis wanted the [Forrest] statue in Southaven.”
The Memphis Commercial Appeal, which is cited in the flier, reported in 2005 that Greg Davis and Horn Lake Mayor Nat Baker “said they would gladly accept the statues here in DeSoto (County) if Memphis didn’t want them.” The statues being referenced are those of Forrest and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, but the story does not elaborate on who agreed to take which.
In a previous story, the Commercial Appeal specifically said Greg Davis would be willing to display the Jefferson Davis statue near City Hall in Southaven and that Baker said he would take the Forrest statue “in a heartbeat.”
The Jefferson Davis statue was also considered controversial, but he is not known for ties to the KKK.
The DCCC stood by the flier.
“The flier is factual, a part of the public record, and has been in the press many times -— voters deserve to know Davis's record,” DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said in a statement.
Republicans, however, blasted the campaign strategy.
“This is a despicable move even for the DCCC,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). “False accusations and race-baiting politics have no place in our public discourse, and if Democrats want to continue to pursue this line of attack, then it will backfire in November.”
Childers spokesman Terry R. Cassreino distanced the campaign from the mailer: “It’s not from our campaign, and we know nothing about it. We are totally focused today on reminding as many voters as possible to get out and vote.”
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dccc-links-davis-to-kkk-founders-statue-2008-05-13.html
Disgusting accusations, and so is the insistance that they're true by the DCCC. He never even commented on that, the other mayor, Baker, did.