Danny Carroll Pulling Dirty Tricks? I’m Shocked!

July 9th, 2006 at 11:31am Geraldine

Danny “I’m not that fond of democracy or gays” Carroll and the Repugs are at it again.  Apparently someone has commissioned a push poll targeting the Democratic candidate for Danny’s seat, Eric Palmer.  Since I definitely couldn’t say it any better, here’s the LTE in it’s entirety:

Last night I received a telephone “survey” regarding elections. The survey must have been commissioned by a Republican Party organization, the Danny Carroll campaign (House District 75) or the Jim Nussle campaign.

Toward the end of the survey, the caller said that she would “give [me] some information” and then asked me if that information changed my feelings about my vote in the race for House District 75. Each piece of information portrayed Democratic candidate Eric Palmer in a negative light.

One of the “negative” comments the caller made about Eric Palmer was that he has served as a criminal defense lawyer. The organization behind this survey, and everyone involved in it, should be ashamed. In our democracy, people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. And in our democracy, even those who are eventually found guilty are entitled to legal representation.

Such representation exists to prevent the abuse of government power. We need only look at the world around us to see what happens when citizens are not entitled to protection within the legal systems in their countries.

Democracy is a fragile thing. “Surveys” such as this erode it. By criticizing Eric Palmer for providing criminal defense services, the sponsors of this survey demonstrate that they are willing to chip away at our precious democracy for the sake of potential political gain.

— Harriett Dickey-Chasins, Grinnell.

We’ve already seen reports of this kind of dirty politics in other races, but it’s really a shame to see it so close to home.  You may remember that last election season Danny’s constituents received a mailing calling Grinnell College students “1,000 east-coast liberal kids” and implying that we don’t deserve to vote.  Danny claimed not to have known about that slanderous mailing.  Well, if Danny really wants to show he’s above this chicanery, he should openly denounce such tactics (and call off his henchmen).  But I guess an issues-based campaign would be scary for him.   

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Entry Filed under: Miscellaneous, Campaign 2006, Iowa Legislature, State Politics, Voting Rights, Campus Democrats

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5 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Matt  |  July 9th, 2006 at 9:02 pm

    Gave you a shout out over at Daily Kos

  • 2. Doug Cutchins  |  July 10th, 2006 at 10:07 am

    Harriett wasn’t the only one to receive this phone call — I got an identical one, and know a Grinnell College faculty member who also did. Push polling in June?! Danny and the R’s must be worried.

    All three calls went to registered Dems in Grinnell’s 1st Ward — traditionally the most liberal of the 4 wards, and the one most likely to give Palmer the most support.

  • 3. IA HD-75: Let’s ele&hellip  |  July 11th, 2006 at 2:16 pm

    […] Danny Carroll, the incumbent Republican representative of house district 75 here in Iowa, is taking the low road pretty quickly in his quest to maintain his seat from strong challenger Eric Palmer. Hannah, from Iowa Progress (the blog of the Grinnell College Democrats located in HD 75), notes a letter to the editor in the Register about a push poll that seems to becoming from Carroll’s campaign, or another conservative group affiliated with him. […]

  • 4. Matt  |  July 12th, 2006 at 2:18 pm

    From the Des Moines CityView:

    Parties gear up to retain contested seats

    Republicans and Democrats are drawing up lists of Legislative seats they think they can win - and some they think they might lose. Republicans worry that Danny Carroll of Grinnell - the House’s Speaker Pro Tem - and Dan Rasmussen of Independence and David Lalk of Fayette County are vulnerable. Democrats will fight hard to save seats of incumbents Mark Davitt of Indianola and Bob Kressig of Cedar Falls. Both sides think they’ll end up in control of the chamber, which the Republicans now control 51 to 49. Democrats are more certain they’ll take control of the Senate, which now is evenly divided, and some Republicans candidly agree. One big battleground: the Republican seat Polk County’s Jeff Lamberti is giving up to run for Congress.

    In the meantime, the state’s Republicans met a couple of weeks ago and, among other things, wrote a new platform. Since we couldn’t find mention of it in The Des Moines Register, Civic Skinny rises again to public service by providing some highlights: The Iowa Republican platform would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education; speaks harshly of homosexuals; opposes any minimum wage; favors school prayer and the teaching of creationism; opposes the teaching of sex education; favors English as the official language of the state; opposes the Kyoto treaty; opposes “ethnic history” months in school systems; opposes no-fault divorce; wants marriage defined as exclusively between a man and a woman; opposes a protected class based on sexual orientation; favors drilling in the Arctic national wildlife preserve; opposes the bottle bill; opposes “all forms” of affirmative action; favors the death penalty; opposes amnesty for any illegal immigrants; supports a barrier along the entire length of the Mexico-U.S. border; opposes issuing driver’s licenses or providing medical, welfare, or educational support for illegal immigrants and their dependents; favors the right to carry a concealed weapon; supports the repeal of state and federal hate-crimes legislation; supports the reversal of Roe v. Wade; opposes embryonic stem-cell research; opposes euthanasia; opposes abortion; opposes a cigarette-tax increase; favors eliminating the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service and imposing, instead, a consumption tax; opposes the use of tax dollars to support the entertainment and the arts; and commends the “outstanding representation” of, among others, Steve King… among other things.

  • 5. Outsider  |  September 6th, 2008 at 8:37 am

    Can’t Danny Carroll be happy with his pumpkin patch and his right wing friends? What a control freak. Time to send Eric Palmer a donation.

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