It's July 7th, and the swiftboat bell has sounded on the nasty political ad season. On your marks, get set...
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican challenger Dick DeVos were in rare agreement Thursday -- the campaign they are waging against each other doesn't have anything to do with Adolf Hitler.
Granholm and DeVos were responding to a full-page ad appearing in this week's edition of the Detroit-based Michigan Chronicle newspaper that featured photographs of Hitler and Granholm and accused Democrats of taking African-American voters for granted.
The ad was placed by Voice the Vote, a Detroit-based political action committee headed by Nataki Harbin, a former candidate for the state House and the stepdaughter of political consultant Adolph Mongo.
Mongo, who helped put the ad together, defended the use of the Hitler image Thursday. He said it was a legitimate and necessary way to communicate the underlying message that African Americans have suffered too long from the disrespect of Democrats.
Hitler is "legitimate" and "necessary"? That should shred any credibility this man has- and it's questionable as to whether he had any at all in the first place. According to a diary at MichiganLiberal- this is not the first time these kinds of tactics have been used by Mongo. Still, the Detroit News thinks enough of him to give him editorial space; twice this year they have published mutterings from him that have attacked Granholm and the Democratic Party. (here and here), the second of which drew a firm rebuttal from none other than John Conyers.
The News chose to run a picture of half the ad this morning - the part that says "Say NO to Governor Granholm in November"- and they gave a full blown description of the Nazi imagery. Given their approval of Mongo and his tirades in the first place, were they trying to reinforce the ad's imagery and main message by running that picure? Hard to tell.
Dick and his spokespuppy John Truscott are playing the "disavow any knowledge" card this morning.
"There is no place in Michigan politics for this ad," DeVos said. "It is appalling and this approach is despicable and wrong. Use of imagery and text that trivialize the worst tragedy of the 20th Century is disgraceful and vile."
But using the rest of the text in the ad wasn't vile to the Detroit News. They are just reporting, after all.
Here's Johnny-
"We have not worked with Adolph and will not work with Adolph and this is a perfect example of why," said DeVos spokesman John Truscott.
Maybe the DeVos campaign hasn't "worked" with Mongo, but he has been featured on Saul Anuzis' blog at the MI GOP, and the rumors are flying hot and heavy this morning in the press. From the News-
Democrats suggested that consultant Adolph Mongo was responsible for the ad and that he might be on the DeVos campaign payroll.
From the Free Press-
Mongo said Voice the Vote has no connection to and received no funding from DeVos' campaign. Mongo is a longtime firebrand in Detroit and Michigan politics, having worked for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger. He also has opposed both on other occasions.
Political consultant Sam Riddle said he believes Mongo's group is receiving support from allies of DeVos and that the aim of the ad is to damage Granholm's credibility among black voters. Riddle predicted the tactic would backfire.
Riddle has some background "issues" also, and "Voice the Vote" is in some trouble with the state.
Voice to Vote registered with the state in the fall of 2004 and has yet to file a single campaign statement with the state, as required by law, that shows where it gets its money and how it spends it. The group owes $4,000 in state fines.
Harbin said her group was inactive until recently, when it began to host fundraisers. She said the PAC will file its financial disclosure statements this month.
I am a fish out of water when it comes to Detroit wheeling and dealing- so we will just see how this all plays out. I hope the Granholm people can connect the dots on these rumors- and swing back with all their might.
EDIT at noon: Interesting sidenote- this hasn't made the media here in GR (yet- maybe they are just being slow). Nothing on the web at all from
WOOD did update after the noon news, and had a response from Granholm.
"To compare me and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to Hitler is reprehensible," Granholm said during an appearance in Highland Park. "And I do think people are going to want to know who's responsible for it."