[UPDATE 05/25/2022 7:35pm] I’m a man of my word. I was sent a picture of an attack mailer against Frederick Frazier that was guilty of the same thing I decried in my original post, so I’m adding that to this post with updates. I’m updating because as a general rule, I don’t delete what I publish, nor walk things back. There’s only one comment I’ve ever deleted, and it was because the left was using to dishonestly promulgate fear in our community (even then, I still republished in my comments what I had deleted. See my rule about not walking things back).
So here’s the deal: I’m unaware of probably 95 percent of the things that were said and done in this race because I wasn’t very attuned to it. If I’m being honest, which I’m known for being, the past several months have been incredibly trying and stressful for me and my family for a variety of reasons I won’t get into. God willing, it’s now behind us, but the end result was that I wasn’t engaged in these primary elections beyond endorsing a couple of candidates whom I interviewed and believed in.
Just as I’m known for being truthful, I’m also known for being even-handed. To that end, I have updated the main graphic for this piece to show not only the original attack mailer against Chabot that I displayed, but also images of attack mailers sent against Frazier. The original pic was sent by a friend of mine in the district who isn’t even politically involved (I hadn’t seen any others). He’s a voter, he received it in the mail, texted it to me, and asked if it was true. I told him the same thing I said here in my original post: be wary of last-minute mailers that don’t cite their sources, and even if they do, check the sources.
That advise goes for anyone at any time. I don’t care who’s sending out such mailers, or flyers, or emails, or skywriting, the principle is the same, and my position is unwavering: I don’t mind if something is “negative” as long as it’s completely truthful, and provides all evidence. If you don’t have the evidence, and don’t provide it, don’t make the allegation. Likewise, if the evidence you have requires that people draw some creative conclusions, that’s not evidence.
It’s also worth noting that suspicions, accusations, investigations, and indictments also aren’t evidence, nor are they proof of wrongdoing. We have a justice system for a reason, and for all its flaws (which stem from humans being involved), it works pretty well. We are innocent until proven guilty–there are no exceptions to that.
What I will not do is write a point-and-counterpoint to the things claimed in the mailers, or anything else said or done in the race. Nor will I defend either candidate from any of the accusations of the other. I stayed out of this race when there was a race, and I’m not about to jump in now after it’s over.
I’ll just end this with an appeal to candidates everywhere: please don’t ever hire Murphy Nasica, and don’t adopt any of their tactics.
[UPDATE 05/25/2022 ~8:00am] I want to make it clear that mailers / flyers / ads that make allegations without citations or substantiation are dirty pool in my book, no matter whose they are. That applies to Frazier, Chabot, Trump, Biden, me or anyone else. I’m told now (after the fact) that Chabot’s campaign created similar fliers. It still applies to everyone. I wrote this piece literally in five minutes after the picture of the mailer below was brought to my attention, and the entire point of which is don’t make attacks that you’re not backing up, and don’t let Murphy Nasica get involved in your campaign.
Today is election day for the Republican primary runoff, and the race for Texas House District 61 has become really contentious. Both candidates, Paul Chabot and Frederick Frazier, have garnered some high-profile endorsements, and I’ve pretty much stayed out of it because both of the candidates are friends. Friendship alone isn’t enough to make me endorse someone, but it can be enough to make me stay out of a race.
A lot of accusations have been flying around, and I’ve been half-attuned to it, but my attention was just called to a mailer sent out attacking Chabot a week or so ago. I don’t have a picture of both sides of the mailer, but what was sent to me by a friend in McKinney is below [now it’s in the main image].
Accusations and mud-slinging aren’t exactly uncommon in elections, especially just before election day, but I need to call attention to the fact that at least in this image, no sources are cited–just bald accusations.
This matters not only because voters deserve transparency and truth, but because this is an all-too-often-used campaign tactic by Austin-based political consulting firm Murphy Nasica, whom Frazier hired. Murphy Nasica has a well-deserved reputation for dirty, misleading hit jobs at the eleventh hour. I know because I was the victim of them as well in my campaign.
Always look for the sources for claims, and then check the sources, because a hit job mailer was sent out attacking me too, which actually cited a source, but if you looked at the source (of me speaking at a council meeting as a citizen), you could see I said nothing like what was claimed in the mailer. And that’s the point–they expect you not to follow up. That’s why it’s dirty.
While I’ve stayed out of this race, as far as I’m concerned, anyone who hires Murphy Nasica has a strike against them right out of the gate. It doesn’t matter whether Frazier was aware of the mailer or not–a candidate is responsible for everything their campaign says and does, just as they are responsible for everything their office says and does if they’re elected, and they’re responsible for each and every one of their votes.
Both men have pages on their website titled “the-other-guy-lies”.
- Here is the page on Frazier’s site: https://www.frazierfortexas.com/chabotslies (which also contains no citations or references for the claims)
- Here is the page on Chabot’s site: https://www.paulchabot.com/frazier_lies (this actually also contains a refutation of the accusations against Chabot, with evidence)
Most people have probably voted already, but if you haven’t, I encourage you to bone up on your options in the remaining time you have (polls close at 7:00), and always, always, always be wary of attack mailers that hit just before election day.
