Point #85: Pettiness on the campaign trial

March 13th, 2018

I really don’t have time for responding to pettiness, but I guess I must address the hysterics coming from Bill Post….

He’s complaining about “dirty lowdown politics” on his website – but it sure sounds like he is the one being a lowdown, dirty mudslinger.

Call this “hyper virtue signaling.”

Let me be perfectly clear and to the point: I support my campaign manager, David Gulliver, 110%. He’s doing amazing work and I applaud him for maintaining consistent conservative Republican values and principles. It was those principles that made him raise a red flag over something he saw in another campaign.

Jonathan Lockwood works for Greg Wooldridge. Bill Post claims he’s not a “staffer,” but an “independent contractor.” Hey, is he getting paid by Wooldridge or not? But I digress…

A few days ago, Lockwood made a post on Facebook (that he has since deleted) in which he said he was fundraising for Maria Garcia, a progressive running for Multnomah County Commissioner. Garcia is a stalwart supporter of Oregon’s sanctuary for criminal illegal aliens. In this post, he even praised Bernie Sanders. BERNIE SANDERS! Oh, and Garcia is running against our friend, conservative Republican and decorated Marine, Bruce Broussard. Does that alarm you?

David was not the person raising the alarm. Other people had posted about this – and brought it to David’s attention…and mine. So David did what any concerned conservative Republican would do: he posted about it, questioned it, and expressed concern. And I agreed with him. And then fireworks started.

Rather than address the issue – his support of an illegal-alien-loving socialist who is running against Bruce Broussard – Lockwood immediately went into full-blown diversionary Alinsky-style “victim status,” attacking both David and me as being “anti-gay.” That’s typical of the radical progressive far-left – but it’s sad to see it coming from a so-called “republican.” It’s the sort of thing the left does to shut down Christian bakeries.

Is this now acceptable practice in our own party?

Now Bill Post has joined Lockwood in attacking us – and he is doing so with vile smears and half-truths. And now I must respond to set the record straight with you, our supporters.

So what, exactly, did David say? He said this:

“I am alarmed that one of our Republican Primary opponents, Greg Wooldridge, has as his communications director a well-known LGBTQ activist, Jonathan Lockwood, who was previously fired by both Knute Buehler and the Senate Republicans. Here is a post from Lockwood raising money for a radical socialist and praising her endorsement from Bernie Sanders. I am alarmed. You should be, too.” And he included a screen-shot of Lockwood’s now-deleted (i.e., incriminating) post.

Yes, David mentioned “LGBTQ activist,” which Lockwood has described himself as. But is THAT an attack? Did David condemn him for being gay? No. In fact, as Bill Post even acknowledges in his bizarre attack piece, David has for many years been well-known in our Oregon Republican circles as a voice for tolerance and equality. Bill, there isn’t a bigoted bone in David’s body, and you KNOW that is true, as you yourself have known David for years.

It is clear what David’s real message here is – that supporting Maria Garcia, a radical socialist, and praising Bernie Sanders, is cause for alarm.

I’m alarmed. Are you alarmed? You should be alarmed!

Now Bill is claiming that supporting Garcia is a good strategy, because she is a “lesser evil” in liberal Portland. But Bill, what about Bruce Broussard, a solid Republican candidate who is running in the same race? And haven’t you for years advocated NO COMPROMISING on conservative values? Oregon Republicans – especially the grassroots conservatives – are SICK AND TIRED of compromising our values! You even spoke up about this very issue just the other day at your Marion County Republican Party meeting. I think your words were, “no comprising with those liberals ever, because they hate you!”

You know where I stand on immigration. I am, without reservation, against Oregon sanctuary for criminal illegal aliens. I fully support Oregonians For Immigration Reform and I am helping them campaign for IP 22 to Stop Oregon Sanctuary. So, I will also stand with Bruce Broussard, the Republican candidate running against one of Oregon’s most vocal advocates for criminal sanctuary.

This is simple: either you stand up for what you believe, or you don’t. Either you hold true to your values, or you don’t. Either you make a commitment to support conservative Republicans in ALL our races across the state, or you don’t.

And so, this is simple: I support Bruce Broussard for his courage in taking on the far-left in this progressive-dominant race. I support him because he is a principled conservative Republican, like me…and he really is qualified to hold the position. I’ve known Bruce for years. He’s a good guy, a Marine veteran and a solid Republican candidate. (Here’s his page: https://www.facebook.com/BruceBroussardPDX/).

And I support David fully because I know what he believes, and he walks his talk. But Bill Post? I no longer know what he believes.