A few days ago, I put up a post about possible push polling in District 102, where Democrat Carol Kent is challenging Republican Tony Goolsby. (And I thought I put up a follow-up post, after I talked to Will Stovall in Kent’s office, but that post appears to have gotten lost in the ether.) Comes now a new release that says we’ve been used by Goolsby’s consultant, Allyn & Company, in the perpetration of “dirty tricks.” See for yourself:
Carol Kent calls on Tony Goolsby to fire campaign consultant
20-year incumbent’s campaign operative is a proven dirty tricks expert
DALLAS — Today, Carol Kent is calling upon Tony Goolsby to terminate his relationship with his campaign consultant, Rob Allyn and his firm, Allyn & Company, for its pattern of negative campaign tactics.
Last week, Goolsby’s campaign encouraged D Magazine, the Dallas Morning News and the Quorum Report to falsely report that the Kent Campaign had run a so-called “push poll,” when in fact it had not done so.
A “push poll” is a paid phone-bank, disguised as a public opinion poll, which is designed to spread malicious falsehoods about a candidate. As reported by the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Allyn & Company has used this dishonest tactic on behalf of its political clients in the past.
“I am particularly disappointed about this,” Kent said, “because I sat face-to-face with Tony and told him we had not done any sort of push-poll.” Kent continued, “The state of Texas faces serious issues, and the voters deserve nothing less than serious discussion of those issues. Any candidate who cannot win an election without the help of discredited dirty-tricks experts is not worthy of the public’s trust.”
The Goolsby campaign has a long association with Allyn & Company, paying the firm at least $300,000 over the past 5 years.
“Rob Allyn is infamous for manipulative campaign tactics,” said Will Stovall, Kent’s campaign manager. “It’s time for Goolsby to disassociate himself from consultants like Allyn & Company-to start talking about the issues that the people of District 102 care about, rather than disseminate lies he’s made up about his opponent.”
The only thing I’ll say about that is this: I was careful not to say that Carol Kent was responsible for what appeared to be a case of push polling. So I hereby call on Carol Kent’s campaign to RETRACT the statement that D Magazine falsely reported that the Kent campaign had run a push poll.
I’m waiting.
