Dave Schwab at Green Party Watch:
Wisconsin Green Party candidate for District 77 State Representative Ben Manski, who is running one of the strongest Green state legislative campaigns in the country, has earned the endorsements of a Madison Teaching Assistants’ union and the University of Wisconsin Daily Cardinal. Here’s Manski’s latest email to supporters:
It IS a good morning, in a very good week, and I want to share all the great news with you. Take a look, and then, please contribute to my campaign –we need to raise a final $5,500 to cover our Get Out The Vote costs– thank you: http://www.VoteManski.com/contribute
The week began with another important union endorsement. The members of the TAA –Teaching Assistants’ Association, AFT Local 3220– voted unanimously to endorse my campaign. The TAA has nearly 800 members in my district, and is now the third major union to back me in this race, joining Fire Fighters Local 311 and Madison Teachers, Inc.
A few days later, the TAA were joined by another stunning endorsement. Madison’s The Capital Times newspaper is urging voters to cast their ballots on my behalf, writing that, “Ben Manski has deep roots on the west side and in the progressive movement. The 77th District has an opportunity to make a powerful political statement by electing him; voters should seize it.” See: http://votemanski.com/capital-times-elect-ben-manski
Some other endorsement news came out the next day. But this news was not about me, it was about my opponent . . .
As reported in the Isthmus, Daily Cardinal, and Badger Herald, my opponent has falsely claimed endorsements from numerous local officials and institutions. He ran radio ads claiming that Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin had endorsed him. He told voters at public forums, union officials, and reporters that state legislators Mark Pocan and Cory Mason had endorsed him. He was wrong on all counts, and Rep. Baldwin, Pocan, and Mason were all compelled to issue statements indicating that they had not endorsed him.
Now we’re in the final week of the campaign, which means that my evenings are filled with debates and with house parties. The candidates recently debated the issues on the UW-Madison campus; you can see the video here: http://votemanski.com/video-uw-madison-debate . . . and tonight is our next debate (at the Sequoya Branch library), to be followed by another one tomorrow (Shorewood Hills). If you’re interested in finding out about our upcoming house parties (five down, two to go!), or about upcoming events, see: http://votemanski.com/events
Did I mention that we’ve also been running new TV and radio ads? Yes, we’re delivering new messages to the voting public. Click on the links below to see some of our recent ads:
~ Peg Lautenchlager: Manski is the Real Deal ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoOC8GtSjgw
~ The Four Questions (TV) ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iai-Uk2sAqk
~ The Four Questions (Radio) ~ http://votemanski.com/sites/default/files/Ben%20Manski-R10-FourQuestions-30%282%29.mp3
~ Which is it? (Radio) ~ http://votemanski.com/sites/default/files/Ben Manski-R10-Bicycle-30.mp3
Finally, you should know that we are working very hard to reach voters at their homes. The first time we organized a district-wide lit drop (that’s 16,000 households, folks), it took us four weeks. The next time, it took us one week. Last weekend, we got it done in two days. We are going to do it again this weekend.
If you are in Wisconsin or northern Illinois, please make plans to join us this Saturday and Sunday. And if not, there are two good ways to help:
1 – You can help us phone voters and get them out to vote. Please just reply to this email if you’re willing to make calls, or to deliver literature.
2 – You can make a contribution. We have mailed 31,000 informative, well-crafted pieces of literature to voters at their homes. We are mailing an additional 11,000 pieces this week. We need an additional $5,500 by the weekend to cover the expenses remaining for those two mailings. Please give now:http://www.VoteManski.com/contribute
Thank you!
~ Ben Manski
p.s. – if you check out our modified homepage, you’ll see pictures from the campaign trail, as well as a link to my interview on WI Eye, our version of C-Span. There’s lots of neat stuff there — check it out athttp://www.VoteManski.com — and please give generously. One thing missing from our homepage is our new Thom Hartmann radio ad (sorry Thom!) . . . but even if you miss it on the radio, others are hearing it. Please help us keep it running.
More endorsement news from the campaign:
Have you heard this news . . . ?
“I had previously indicated that I was intending to vote for the entire Democratic ticket. At this point, I am rethinking how I intend to vote in the Assembly race.” ~ State Representative Spencer Black
For the story, read today’s The Capital Times article here:
http://votemanski.com/capital-times-spencer-black-says-hulsey-has-problem-trustworthiness
As a voter, it’s helpful to know when candidates have been honest with you, and when they haven’t. One reason why Rep. Black is now considering voting for Manski, as opposed to Hulsey, is that Hulsey made up an endorsement from Black, attributed it to Black, and then, against Black’s explicit instructions, sent that information to thousands of voters. As stated in The Capital Times, Spencer Black believes Hulsey has “a problem with trustworthiness.”
The Capital Times article
This follows on Hulsey’s misuse of Congresswoman Baldwin’s name in radio and print advertising, and his misuse of the names of Rep. Pocan and Rep. Mason as supporters, neither of whom endorsed him. In fact, Rep. Pocan had kind words for Ben Manski in this past week’s Badger Herald, saying that Manski, “would be an ally of mine” and “would work closely with the Democrats [to] help craft and advance our agenda.” Pocan would know, as he has “worked with Ben on a number of issues [including] social justice, the environment and clean elections.” For that article, see: http://votemanski.com/manski-integrity-student
These latest misrepresentations by Hulsey follow a longstanding pattern. For example, Hulsey has long used a quote from a The Capital Times endorsement dating back to a county board race to make it appear as if he had the support of that newspaper in the state assembly race. Not so. In fact, last week The Capital Times made a glowing endorsement of Ben Manski for Assembly: “Ben Manski has deep roots on the west side and in the progressive movement. The 77th District has an opportunity to make a powerful political statement by electing him; voters should seize it.” See: http://votemanski.com/capital-times-elect-ben-manski
Tens of thousands of voters have heard the radio ads falsely claiming that Baldwin supported Hulsey. They have also seen the quote falsely attributed to Spencer Black. But how many will read the online edition of The Capital Times, and discover that they have been misled? That is why we are emailing you.
Voters have an opportunity to elect a candidate in Ben Manski who has been described by leading Democrats as a “man of great integrity,” a “fresh face,” and “a very good man.” Those leading Democrats were three of the four candidates who faced Hulsey in the Democratic primary. For a full and verifiable list of prominent individuals and organizations backing Manski, see: http://votemanski.com/Endorsements
Thank you for your consideration.