December 16, 2003

An Open Letter to all Democratic presidential campaign managers:

Last week, a group called "Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values" began airing a television ad in New Hampshire and South Carolina attacking Howard Dean's commitment to defending America.  The group is headed by a Democratic contributor, and the press secretary is a former aide to one of Dr. Dean's rivals.  Using the image of Osama bin Laden, it is the kind of fearmongering attack we've come to expect from Republicans and panders to the worst in voters.  I'm writing to call on each one of you to condemn this despicable ad and demand it be pulled from the airwaves.

Democrats are better than this.  This type of ad represents everything that is wrong with our political process today -- polluting our airwaves with smears on other candidates that have nothing to do with legitimate policy differences. Ads like this are the reason that less than half of the voting population in America bothers to go to the polls.

We Democrats should be committing ourselves to bringing more people into the process instead of resorting to tactics that cause more people to lose faith in politics altogether.  Our campaign is committed to inspiring people to believe in their democracy again -- challenging 2 million people to donate $100 each to take back their country.

Our party must be about more than just changing presidents -- it must be dedicated to changing our country's politics.  I hope you'll join me in denouncing this ad and demanding it be pulled from the airwaves immediately.
 

Sincerely,

Joe Trippi
 

"We agree with Joe Trippi that this ad is produced and presented in a way that is over the top.  But we also agree that it's exactly the kind of ad that Republicans would run -- and that's precisely the problem.  Simply put: the Democratic nominee will not win in 2004 if he appears weak on defense.  That is why Joe Lieberman has spent this week talking about the legitimate policy differences he has with Howard Dean on national security and foreign policy.  We look forward to continuing this legitimate debate of ideas on the campaign trail."
 
  Wednesday, December 17, 2003

A full and open response to Democratic presidential campaign managers:

Yesterday, Dean presidential campaign manager Joe Tripp called on us all to support full disclosure of donors of third party groups that are running television ads against his candidate.  Many of us voted to make full disclosure of donors the law of land.  Because of our efforts, we passed McCain Fein gold a year ago and tightened all disclosure laws dealing with campaign expenditures, including those of 3rd party groups.

As Democrats, we all agree that full disclosure and transparency is a hallmark of our party.  In that spirit and to hold Governor Dean to the same standards that he is imposing on some of us, we call upon Gov. Dean to open up his secretive documents.

The concealment of these records for 10 years don't allow voters to make a fully educated decision about who is best equipped to send George Bush back to Texas and restore this nation to its full promise and potential. Democrats are the leaders of openness in our government, and anything less is not worthy of our party.

President Bill Clinton often said that if you make sure voters get all the information, they’d make the right decisions.  While Gov. Dean is very fond of reminding voters that they have the power, we'd like to see him trust them with the information to exercise it.

Only Governor Dean has the power to unseal these records.  I hope you will join me in calling on Gov. Dean to use the power he has and unseal his governmental records.

Sincerely,

Mary Beth Cahill