TPM Reader PK checks in from Rhode Island …
For the last week or so, Republican Senator Linc Chafee has been trying to turn the tide of his race by attacking Democrat opponent Sheldon Whitehouse as being soft on public corruption during his tenure as US Attorney and the state’s Attorney General.
It hasn’t really been sticking, so yesterday, Chafee went for the Hail Mary. He held a press conference in front of the business owned by Antonio Freitas, the guy who wore a wire and worked undercover for the feds in 1998, eventually helping to bring down corrupt Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci. Chafee tried to paint Whitehouse as a crony of Cianci, saying that Freitas had told the feds not to let Whitehouse know he was working for them to get Cianci because Freitas didn’t trust Whitehouse not to give him up.
Freitas went on to hold his own impromptu presser, peddling a tale about an unnamed “informant” in the Mayor’s office who told Freitas that in 2001, Whitehouse had cut a deal with Cianci to send Freitas to jail in exchange for having Cianci appoint one of Whitehouse’s pals as the new Chief of Police in Providence.
The problem with all of this is that Freitas has a bit of an axe to grind with Whitehouse. Freitas was convicted of domestic abuse on two separate occasions when Whitehouse was AG. In 2000, Freitas pleaded no contest to domestic assault after being charged with hitting his wife. In 2001, Freitas was arrested again for hitting his girlfriend. The arrest violated his probation and he was sentenced to four months in prison.
Here’s the story.
Whitehouse came back strong in response, holding his own press conference in the afternoon, denouncing Freitas’ statements as “utter nonsense” and blasting Chafee for standing with a repeat batterer and trying to minize his crimes in an effort to bolster his campaign.
This is going to hurt Chafee, who really looks like he’s climbing into the gutter and hoping to toss enough dirt around to save his campaign. Whitehouse has run a series of very effective ads pushing the message that we must change the make-up of the Senate to stop Bush’s policies.
Chafee’s claims to be an independent voice who has voted against Bush are looking mighty hollow in light of the $500,000 the RNC dumped into his recent primary to help him win that tough contest. And Whitehouse has effectively reminded people of that through his ads.
For those who voted for Chafee because of his “good guy” demeanor, which I believe was an important factor in the support he received from independent voters, this latest attack is going to do more harm than good.
Have on an on-the-ground update from your neck of the woods? Let us know.
