State Senate races have been receiving the lion’s share of media attention this election season in Washington State, perhaps lulling Democrat House incumbents into thinking that sleazy tactics would go unnoticed. Unfortunately for liberal Dawn Morrell, that turned out not to be true.
Morrell, who was booted out of office by voters in 2010, only to resurface in 2012, is feeling pressure this year after a dismal primary showing (only 51% of the vote). Her concern about losing again evidently caused her to sign off on an attack done by the House Democratic Campaign Committee that charged her Republican opponent was “pro-abortion.”
According to The News Tribune, the Democrats flooded Morrell’s 25th District with phone calls, pretending to be conducting a “poll,” when in reality the Democrats were hoping to turn voters against Republican challenger Melanie Stambaugh by claiming she was “pro-abortion.”
Morrell’s defense against such sleaze: “Morrell told The News Tribune the House Democrats’ campaign arm sent her polling questions that she didn’t read because she assumed they included “really terrible” questions about herself. She said she hasn’t personally engaged in negative campaigning.”
So, the best defense Morrell could come up with is to claim ignorance about this “push poll,” and with a straight face suggest she isn’t “personally engaged in negative campaigning,” but is instead encouraging outside groups to do the dirty work for her. Does she really think that little of the voters in her district that they would believe that?
Perhaps voters might like to learn what “really terrible questions about herself” Morrell couldn’t bring herself to read in the “poll” her campaign signed off on – maybe her support for Jay Inslee’s extreme environmental agenda, and $1-plus gas tax scheme, or other taxes her Democrat Party is pushing for, like a state income tax.
She’s a democrat. It’s what they do.