|
|
| |
| Thu, Aug. 28, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
A rush to dash Huckabee critic Sunday, Nov 11, 2007 By David Sanders When The Wall Street Journal's John Fund wrote a less-than-flattering piece about Mike Huckabee, the former governor's presidential campaign tried to act quickly to mitigate any resulting damage - perhaps too quickly. Fund's piece contained the words of a few high-profile Arkansans who repeated the lingering criticisms that have dogged Huckabee since his time as governor: He is good on the social issues, opposing abortion and protecting gun rights, but when is come to taxation, his philosophy on government is that he is anything but a conservative. It also was revealed in the piece that Huckabee didn't enjoy the support of those elected officials he worked with in Arkansas - mainly state legislators. These were two potentially devastating criticisms. First, any chink in Huckabee's conservative armor - especially one inflicted by someone who receives a paycheck from The Wall Street Journal - could impact his rise in the polls. Being the consistent conservative has been Huckabee's most recent message. Should that message be undercut, it could prove devastating. Second, if Huckabee didn't have things sewn up with Republicans back home, what kind of message did that send? The thought is that outsiders should take heed to what those closest to a candidate, in terms of proximity, are saying. The truth is that Huckbee hasn't had that much support from former and current Republican legislators. Enter Chad Gallagher, the overachieving Huckabee political operative who once boasted of being the youngest mayor in America (De Queen). He has been committed to Huckabee since his first campaign. He founded a startup public affairs firm after leaving Huckabee's governor's office. Surprisingly enough, his first major client was the Huckabee presidential campaign, which according to campaign finance record was paying him quite well. Following Fund's column, Gallagher was tasked with putting together some kind of response. One of the first people he called was state Sen. Ruth Whitaker, a longtime Republican and Huckabee supporter. According to Whitaker, he asked if she would be willing to go on the record and talk to reporters, even Fund, about why she liked Huckabee so much. She agreed because, as she puts it, they had a long history. She had helped him in his first campaign for the U.S. Senate and when she ran for office he reciprocated. That was the extent of their conversation because Gallagher was getting another phone call - he told her it was Huckabee himself. She said Gallagher called back a few days later recounting the content of their phone conversation from days earlier. She agreed again to speak to reporters on Huckabee's behalf. That was their last conversation. Days later, much to Ruth Whitaker's dissatisfaction, her name was on a list released by the Huckabee campaign called the Arkansas GOP Leadership Team, which had on it former and current elected Arkansas officials who had supposedly endorsed Mike Huckabee for president. She said she hadn't given permission for anyone to use her name. Monday night Whitaker and Gallagher crossed paths via phone. She said she asked him why her name was on the list when she hadn't endorsed Huckabee. She said Gallagher had told her that he thought because of her willingness to speak on Huckabee's behalf, he assumed it meant she endorsed him. Whitaker said she corrected him and told him that was not the case. She said she reiterated that he hadn't asked permission to use her name, because if he had, she wouldn't have given him permission. According to other press reports, Sarah Agee, a former Huckabee aide and current Beebe aide, didn't authorize her name to be used. I'm told there are as many as six names on the original list whose name shouldn't have been included. When I called the campaign for a comment, I was offered a written statement by Alice Stewart, Huckabee's press secretary. The statement arrived via e-mail: "We have had many folks ask how they can help the campaign and several key leaders suggested an Arkansas GOP Leadership Team. Chad Gallagher, who has worked with many of these leaders, was tasked with putting the team together. A working list, that included people that had not yet confirmed to being on the list, was released inadvertently. We followed up with a revised list." It sounds like the mistake wasn't in releasing the list inadvertently, but in putting names on it that shouldn't have been on there in the first place. The rush to respond to a negative story perhaps shouldn't be rushed. ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is a host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
