Evidence is mounting to indicate that false allegations
against Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg are being coordinated by
Senator Max Baucus.
The false allegations originated in the Washington D.C. periodical Roll
Call and were based on a cryptic, anonymous email that has never been
traced to its original source. Though obviously baseless in content,
Democrat Party Chiarman Bob Ream yesterday threatened to exercise
"freedom of information" rights to "expose" the details of the story.
New evidence suggests that Senator Max Baucus prompted Ream's action.
Two former Baucus staffers are closely involved in the scheme, including
Ryan Seher, the current campaign manager of Tracy Velazquez and former
Baucus staffer; and Bill Lombardi, current communications consultant to
Bob Ream and former Baucus communications director. Further, the story
originated from a Washington D.C. political magazine that Baucus's
current staff has frequent contact with.
"The relationships between all of these individuals seem, well, just a
little too convenient," said MT GOP Executive Director Chuck Denowh.
"Baucus has a history of using Bob Ream to do his dirty work, and
judging by their past actions, there is nothing they won't do to damage
a Republican's reputation."
As no evidence has been proffered to suggest that the false allegations
have any base in reality, the revelation of Baucus's involvement could
have serious repercussions on the elections this November. "The Montana
Democrat rank-and-file are getting pretty tired of Bob Ream's
stranglehold on their party and the persistently negative image he has
concocted for them," said Denowh. "This is one of the reasons that
Rehberg enjoys such strong support among Democrats in our state."
Rehberg's approval rating has been consistently in the 60th percentile;
Baucus has languished with weaker numbers.
"Baucus's fragile ego has been severely damaged recently," said Denowh,
"Not only was his wife Wanda Baucus recently arrested for assault, but
Rehberg has consistently been beating him in Montana approval polls.
This appears to be nothing but a selfish attempt to besmirch our popular
Montana Congressman, Denny Rehberg."
Baucus and Ream have been involved in other smear campaigns, most
recently with the allegations leveled against 2002 US Senate candidate
Mike Taylor. "What we're seeing is nothing new," said Denowh. "Baucus
and Ream know that they can't compete with us on real issues, so they
consistently resort to this sort of negative campaigning. I'd say
enough is enough; let's focus on what really matters to Montana."
A few observations:
1. Although the news release never specifies what the "false allegations" are, they presumably involve the widely circulated rumor that Rehberg and Burns got drunk on a trip to Kazakhstan and Rehberg fell off a horse and broke a rib. If so, the rumor isn't entirely baseless. They did make the trip, they did drink, and Rehberg did fall and hurt himself. He denies that he was drunk, and no credible evidence has surfaced that he is lying. So the allegations may not be valid, but they aren't imaginary.
2. The news release alleges that two former Baucus staffers were "closely involved" in the scheme. Evidence for this is even scanter than evidence Rehberg was drunk.
3. "the story originated from a Washington D.C. political magazine that Baucus's
current staff has frequent contact with." The magazine was Rollcall. The list of Washington politicians who don't have frequent contact with Rollcall would be very short.
4. "the revelation of Baucus's involvement could have serious repercussions on the elections this November." Even if that revelation ever surfaces, this proposition sounds like wishful thinking. Baucus isn't even up for re-election. Are people going to vote for Brown or Rehberg because they don't trust Baucus? Or Ream? Does not compute.
5. The rest of the news release is itself a smear. So the Republicans make unsupported allegations that Baucus is to blame for unsupported allegations, then use those allegations as a basis for smearing Baucus and the entire Democratic Party. Now that's politics.
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