I wrote here yesterday about an item on 2nd District Democratic candidate Herb Rule from a Republican friendly blog. It was about a two-year-old driving charge in which the charge was given headline attention and the subsequent acquittal was buried deep in the report. It smelled of the kind of opposition attack work for which incumbent Republican Rep. Tim Griffin earned his spurs working in the Bush White House for Karl Rove.
Rule has responded. His release:
Herb Rule is innocent of DWI, failure to submit to sobriety test, and the suspension of his license was cancelled after trial in Rogers District Court over two years ago, contrary to the lies Tolbert Report blog posted Monday morning.
Tolbert, an ally and lapdog of Rule’s opponent for Congress, Tim Griffin, made the charges without first talking to Rule or his campaign, and without checking the facts shown in court records. This story was written to attack Herb Rule’s character, and there exists no other reason for it to be written. Rule says, “This attack shows Tim Griffin won’t run on his record; he’s hiding from it, and standing in the way of action to spur small-business job growth. The stalemate in Congress must end.” Herb Rule will end it.
Rule is running a campaign on the issues, pledging to solve the economic problems facing our State and avoid the do-nothing negativism in Congress that delays recovery from the Bush Recession of the last four years. Rule said, “Only a liar or a desperate candidate would throw out such lies to mislead Arkansas voters, but Arkansas’s voters know better and can smell gutter politics from a distance.”
Rule will continue to work to grow the economy, stimulate small business growth, cut the deficit and protect Medicare and Social Security for the benefit of the people of Arkansas.
I’ve sent the note to Tolbert and will give you his response or a link to it when it appears.
UPDATE: He responds
My post yesterday was based on public documents available from the Rogers Police Department. My post also stated that according to the district court the prosecuting attorney took the case to trial where Rule was found not guilty. I left a voice mail for Mr. Rule on Sunday evening and also emailed his campaign manager Adam Fogelman requesting comment. I posted the story on Monday morning. I talked to Mr. Rule later that morning and updated my post with his response that my story was “inaccurate.” I asked him numerous times how it was inaccurate so that I could correct it and he decline to comment further.