4/8/2010 - Abbott Tracker Flip-Flop
Abbott Tracker Flip-Flop
PORTLAND - Thursday it came to light that the Republican Governor's Association has hired Lauren Chatmas to follow around the Democratic candidates in the primary. Both Democrats and Republicans have employed trackers in Maine. However, GOP candidate Steve Abbott's flip-flop on the appropriateness of tracking deserve further scrutiny.
Abbott was outspoken against the policy in the 2008 US Senate race when the Democratic Party employed a tracker. But now that the GOP is tracking, Abbot seems to approve of tracking.
In Abbott's 2007 open letter to Tom Allen he explained that he was writing "in the hope that we can put a stop to a practice [tracking] that is increasingly prevalent in national politics and that has no place in Maine politics." He continued, "Tactics such as tracking demean the political process, contribute to voter cynicism and have no place in the type of substantive issues-oriented campaigns that our voters deserve." http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0807/5407.html
But now that the GOP has a tracker, Abbot's campaign's response is markedly different:
"Abbott's spokeswoman, Felicia Knight, said Wednesday that Abbott's criticism was focused on the intrusive and intimidating nature of the tracker who was then assigned to Collins."On the other hand, he has absolutely no objection to people who are going to be videotaping public events and public speeches," Knight said. http://www.pressherald.com/news/caught-on-tape-independent-frowns-on-being-target-of-candidate-camera_2010-04-08.html
Abbott's own words from 2007 clearly contradict this campaign statement, "We just don't think it [tracking] is good for politics ... It turns voters off." (WCSH 6 interview August 2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA6WT8CKQJ8&feature=related
What's more, Abbott's campaign has neglected to mention Chatmas actually worked for Steve Abbott in Sen. Susan Collins' office. http://www.legistorm.com/person/Lauren_M_Chatmas/49895.html
"Steve Abbott was against tracking before he was for it. The question is, why is Steve Abbott is flip-flopping on tracking?" asked Arden Manning, coordinated campaign manager for Victory 2010, the Democrats' Coordinated Campaign. "We all know Abbott is the Republican insider candidate. Perhaps he is simply toeing the Party line and doesn't want to criticize the actions of the GOP. Abbott owes it to Maine voters to clear his position up. Otherwise, his approach may (to paraphrase Abbott) 'turn voters off' ".
