It seems Jesse Kelly is nervous about Jonathon Paton’s entry in the CD8 race. On March 24th, Kelly’s web site blasted Paton: “Our public servants must be held accountable for their actions. It is a red flag when a career politician who voted for Janet Napolitano’s billion dollar spending increase hedges on future tax votes . . . “
Kelly needs to check his facts. Paton opposed Napolitano’s budget and joined with Republicans in forcing her to accept the Republican compromise, which included tax cuts.
This is not the first time Kelly has exaggerated. He was one of three candidates invited to a Q&A” at Saddlebrooke in early January 2010. Shortly after the event, Kelly advertised on his web site that he had won the debate. When a Vice-President of the Saddlebrooke Republican Club asked Kelly’s campaign manager to make a correction, he refused, allowing false information to remain on the site.
I wrote an analysis of the “Q&A” for the Saddlebrooke Republican Club blog on January 8th. There were seventeen responses to the article, including all three candidates who thought the analysis fair. No one thought there was a debate or a winner. Review the blog and responses and draw your own conclusion.
As soon as Paton entered the race the Democratic machine focused on him by sending a records request on Jonathon Paton, looking for anything and everything. The Democrats even filed a bogus complaint with the Federal Elections Commission: all standard operating procedure for the Democrat’s Dirty Tricks Division. Jesse Kelly has been “campaigning” for 12-18 months and the Democratic machine ignored him.
As soon as Paton entered the race, the Cook Political Report changed its rating of CD8 from “solidly Democratic” to “likely Democratic.” Jesse Kelly should be concerned. Paton is shaking up the race and even the Democrats are concerned and reacting . . . to Paton’s presence.
Jesse Kelly entered the race early and as a potential favorite. However, it seems he has factually “stumbled” a number of times. Facts are stubborn things, as someone once said. Misstating the facts, intentionally or otherwise, will always come back to haunt you.
Stick to the facts and take the high road.
