Matt Salmon recently sent out a email claiming distortions and lies by the Adams campaign.
Our campaign’s research on lobbyist Matt Salmon’s career over the past 10 years revealed that he moved to the D.C. suburbs in Virginia, set up shop as a lobbyist, made millions and donated money to democrats–these facts are not disputed by Salmon’s campaign.
One source showed that Salmon was the treasurer of Comptel’s lobbying PAC when it contributed $2,000 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Unfortunately, that source was misleading. As soon as we discovered the error, the video was pulled from our campaign YouTube account. Mistake made. Lesson learned. We have recommitted our campaign to exhaustively researching every source, because the voters deserve a debate based on facts — and only the facts.
It is clear that the facts show Mr. Salmon is just a run of the mill lobbyist, seeking special interest influence. While one source had it wrong, all of the evidence clearly proves the underlying point: Matt Salmon is a Washington lobbyist with a record of seeking influence from Democrats.
What’s more, Mr. Salmon seems to have put his lobbying career ahead of his conservative principles. While he had a conservative record when he served in Congress back in the 1990′s, his record in the decade since he left the House tells another story. When Matt Salmon was President of Comptel, the Comptel PAC donated to liberal democrats like Henry Waxman and Ed Markey. And, Salmon personally contributed to liberals like Ed Pastor and Joe Baca as recently as the 2010 election. These are the facts, and they are not in dispute.
So far in this campaign, Salmon’s tried to pretend the past ten years never happened.
Mr. Salmon has also realized that he cannot run from the facts. He has finally admitted that he was a Washington lobbyist and democratic campaign donor.
The momentum is on our side because voters are tired of the Washington revolving door and the leveraging of public office into lucrative lobbying careers. They deserve to know the full record of his experience as a high-priced lobbyist.
In a recent poll commissioned by our campaign, 80% of voters said they would be less likely to vote for Salmon knowing that he spent time as a Washington lobbyist. This poll was conducted by the well respected Tarrance Group, whose president helped to pass the American Association of Political Consultants’ resolution against push polls. Salmon’s claim that the Tarrance group conducted a push poll is without merit or evidence and should be retracted. The question fairly asked voters a question they will surely ask themselves on election day: do we really want to send another special interest lobbyist to Washington?
About Kirk Adams
Kirk Adams is son of Linda and Dave Adams. He is a life long resident of the East Valley. Kirk is a husband, father, and small businessman with 20 employees. After joining the state House in 2006, he became so frustrated by the unwillingness and inability of Republicans in the Legislature to stand up for their conservative principles that he launched a long-shot campaign to oust the veteran Speaker of the House. Adams shocked the Republican establishment and political class, winning the Speakership at only 35 years of age.
Adams turned the tide in the House and put Arizona back on the path to fiscal responsibility with an aggressive agenda of reform, courageously taking on some of the most challenging issues in Arizona. His campaign is endorsed and chaired by Senator Jon Kyl.
Adams, a lifelong East Valley resident, lives in Mesa with his wife JaNae Soelberg Adams and their five children.
To learn more visit http://www.youtube.com/kirkadams
