Strike Everything

After weeks of being hammered on his position on Social Security, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly countered the criticism in a television ad to be aired this week in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

In the ad, Kelly said U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the incumbent Democrat, is “distorting” his Social Security plan in order to distract voters from her record of supporting the federal bail-outs and the federal health care law, and of opposing SB1070, Arizona’s most recent immigration law.

Kelly’s position on Social Security and Medicare has been a central narrative of the Giffords’ campaign.

The Giffords campaign is seeking to portray Kelly as an extremist with “dangerous ideas.” A recent ad produced by the campaign called Kelly a “risk we can’t afford.”

“What kind of guy says that Medicare is a scam, or a Ponzi scheme? His ideas are dangerous,” Giffords’ campaign manager Rodd McLeod, stated in a news release.

Kelly’s new ad counters that his Social Security plan calls for “(honoring) our commitments” to seniors while giving younger workers a choice.

Kelly said he would keep the benefits at their current level for those who already receiving Social Security and for those who already are paying into it. For those who are just entering the work force, Kelly said he wants to provide an option to put a portion of their contributions into a personal savings account.

“We need to save Social Security by transitioning to a more sustainable financial model,” he said. “My plan guarantees that will happen. Giffords has no plan and has done nothing to work toward a solution.”

Giffords’ campaign said Kelly is attempting to give himself a “makeover” after calling for the elimination of Social Security and Medicare during the primary election season.

Meanwhile, Giffords also released a television ad that seeks to show her as tough on border security. The ad shows Cochise County veterinarian and rancher Dr. Gary Thrasher saying the congresswoman is “probably the best advocate for border security that we’ve ever had down here.”

Jonathan Paton’s campaign called Jesse Kelly a hypocrite for allegedly profiting from stimulus money through his family’s construction business while publicly opposing the stimulus package.

The attack on Kelly confirmed a shift in the tone of the primary race in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

The two Republicans are vying for their party’s nomination and the chance to challenge Democrat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Previously, Paton went primarily after Giffords.

Recently, however, his camp has also trained its guns on Kelly, and the duel between the two Republicans has intensified as the primary election approaches.

There’s a third Republican candidate in the race, Jay Quick, but he doesn’t have the resources to compete.

“Jesse Kelly has said one thing on the campaign trail and done another thing in private,” Paton said in a news release on Aug. 17. “His stated opposition to the Obama stimulus, while running a business that profits from this reckless spending, is blatant hypocrisy.”

In the statement, Paton said Kelly should “pay back the millions of dollars his company has received in stimulus and earmark dollars-taxpayer cash the Kelly company actively sought under Kelly’s management and from which Kelly has personally profited.”

The statement was accompanied by a video accusing Kelly of “(lining) his pockets with our taxpayer money.” The ad also juxtaposed clips of President Barack Obama and Kelly, saying Kelly took Obama’s stimulus money for his company.

This is the first video that Paton’s campaign released against Kelly.

The Kelly campaign dismissed the video as an attempt to distract voters from Paton’s record.

“Jonathan is desperate to distract voters from his record but people know that Paton eagerly voted for Napolitano’s big-spending budgets,” Kelly said in a statement.

A central narrative of Kelly’s campaign is that Paton is a career politician who supported Napolitano’s fiscal 2008 budget, which increased government spending.

John Ellinwood, who speaks for the Kelly campaign, said: “He has not received millions in stimulus. He is a working guy.

“President Obama’s spending is the reason Jesse Kelly got into the race,” Ellinwood said, adding that Paton’s ad tying Kelly to Obama is dishonest.

Paton is also desperate after having ignored Kelly for several months, Ellinwood said.

Kelly works as a project manager for his family’s construction business, Don Kelly Construction, which bids on sewer and flood control projects.

He recently worked on sewer expansion project for Pima County. Part of that funding for the project came from stimulus dollars.

But Kelly’s campaign has been quick to point out that just like any other company that bids on government projects his company has no control over the funding source for these projects.

- Luige del Puerto