THE SPECTATOR: BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GET IN BED WITH

  

After saying that he had no connection to the tremendous amount of advertising on his behalf by Political Action Committees, Washington County Judge candidate Kirk Hanath is now wholeheartedly embracing their endorsements.  Hanath is even using these PAC endorsements in his own political advertising.  Hanath recently boasted about how his campaign was financed by donations from local folks, not “Austin lobbyists”.  Oops, not so true anymore.  Most of these groups have ties to the extreme far right of the Republican Party.  I’m talking “extreme” far right, where they see no room for moderate Republicans in their party.  Some have even been tied to white supremacist groups and antisemitism…values that don’t necessarily align with Washington County.  Yet our mailboxes are being filled each day with political ads from these groups, hoping their names will fool voters into thinking they are innocently championing “liberty, patriotism, gun rights, freedom and of course, Texas”.  But the ads don’t stop at the mailbox.  Many voters continue to receive ugly text messages attacking Hanath’s opponent, Brad Tegeler.  Also disturbing is the fact that a sample ballot with Hanath’s name already marked was sent with the return address of a current Washington County election worker.  If that’s not illegal, it is certainly unethical.  What is shocking to me is that this is not a Republican versus Democrat race…this is Republican on Republican, where one side has embraced smear tactics, half-truths and lies.  I am very disappointed that Hanath has chosen this path, something that I never expected from him.  I don’t think Washington County voters like the way this campaign has been run.  It’s dirty politics, and there is no place for that here.  Maybe the next time some former State Representative from North Texas tries to tell us how to vote in our local election, we’ll just put him in his place…the trash can.  And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.