Senator Mike Lenett is implying that these guys want you to vote for his challenger, Roger Manno.
Really?
Lenett has sent out three mailers about the fact that Tripwire, a pro-gun publication, has called on its readers to defeat him. Tripwire said:
District 19 (Montgomery County) Gun owners have one long-shot opportunity to help the Cause. It is in the Dem Senate primary, where Roger Manno challenges the incumbent Mike Lenett. Vote for Manno. He isn’t that good, but Lenett is that bad. He built a career on banning guns. He is a champion of licensing measures and worse while in Annapolis. Let’s take out the gun grabbers’ leadership if we can (just as D13 voters did 4 years ago with excellent effect.) The primary will determine this one, so all hands, please: big turnout. (If you’re a republican in this district – why? Your vote decides no outcome. Switch parties well before Aug 24th so you can make a difference!)
After noting this in one mailer, Lenett sent out two more.
Here’s Mailer #2.
And here’s Mailer #3, which includes the picture of the goons above.
It’s clear that Tripwire does not see Manno as good on their issues (especially since he has introduced gun-restricting legislation), but rather as the lesser of two evils. Lenett’s mailer says nothing about that. But the point is not the mailer’s text, which is not technically inaccurate, but the imagery. The allegedly pro-Manno thugs are obviously shown to scare people away from his candidacy. We are reminded of Nancy Navarro’s “Child Behind a Fence” mailer targeting Ben Kramer in last year’s special election. The point of that mailer’s text was to hit Kramer’s voting and sponsorship record, but the imagery was designed to evoke an emotional reaction of outrage. So it is with Lenett’s mail. Of course, Navarro’s mail and Lenett’s mail have one other thing in common: campaign consultant David Goodman helped to design both of them. Navarro’s negative mail backfired in Leisure World. Will Lenett’s?
Manno sent out this email response.
Mike Lenett has crossed the line – again
Dear neighbor,
On Friday afternoon Mike Lenett once again sent out an outrageous and misleading mailer asserting that I am backed by the gun lobby. Not only does this make a mockery of a serious issue in the same week gun violence impacts our own community, but even when he is publicly corrected on this issue, he chooses to perpetuate these untruths.
As I mentioned in my first response to Lenett’s attack, I’ve fought hard to defeat concealed carry laws and fought hard to pass laws that keep guns off the streets. It’s why I was named to a Congressional blue ribbon task force to prevent gun violence. In fact, during my first week in the legislature I introduced a bill to break through decades of gridlock between the state and our counties on gun control. And while Mike Lenett and I both strongly support gun control, the truth is, Mike Lenett worked to defeat that bill.
Gun violence is real. We’ve all seen the horrors of it in the news media, and experienced it here in Montgomery County. Unfortunately, for many of our families and youth it’s too real. Growing up in New York City I had a gun put to my head – so I know what it’s like to fear for my life. I’ve mourned with my community as we buried friends, neighbors and classmates who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mike knows this; he’s researched my record extensively. Yet Mike Lenett chose to send out a second mailer that made a false connection between me and right-wing gun extremists. That’s the difference between us. Mike Lenett wants to win this State Senate race at any cost, even if it means winning dirty.
Check out the facts for yourself, and please visit my website at www.RogerManno.com for more information.
Sincerely,
Roger