Feb 28, 2016

Missouri Suicide Haunts Campagne Ted Cruz: Betsy Woodruff at The Daily Beast


Betsy Woodruff
BETSY WOODRUFF
BLAME02.25.16 21:05 ET
Missouri Suicide Haunts Campagne Ted Cruz
Missouri vérificateur Tom Schweich tué lui-même il y a un an, mais ses amis croient encore l'homme de gérer la campagne de Ted Cruz est, en partie, responsable de sa mort.
Il y a un an aujourd'hui, le Missouri vérificateur Tom Schweich a pris sa propre vie.
mentor politique de Schweich, ancien sénateur John Danforth, accuse le directeur de campagne de Ted Cruz, Jeff Roe, pour avoir contribué à sa mort et a déclaré que la décision de Cruz de l'embaucher devrait donner aux électeurs une pause.
Il est pas un universel vue, loin de là. Roe rejette toute responsabilité pour le suicide, et la police ont en aucune manière lui assignée avec la culpabilité juridique pour la mort de Schweich. Mais comme les adversaires de Cruz remettent en question son caractère, un certain point à la mort de Schweich comme preuve d'une campagne présidentielle moralement malade.
À tout le moins, il est un cauchemar de relations publiques.
Comme Cruz se prépare pour un mois de primaires qui vont probablement déterminer le candidat républicain, son directeur de campagne a obtenu beaucoup d'attention. Cela inclut une histoire Page One New York Times décrivant Roe comme «un dispositif avec une réputation de terre brûlante, étirement des vérités, et de gagner des élections."
Danforth dit la vérité est moins sexy: que Roe perd-beaucoup-et que sa marque bad-boy est un obstacle majeur à l'espoir présidentielle Cruz.
Il y a un an, Roe travaillait pour Catherine Hanaway, qui était (et est toujours) en cours d'exécution dans le primaire pour être le prochain candidat au poste de gouverneur républicain du Missouri. Schweich, le vérificateur de l'État, était le favori du concours. La course est rapide laid.
Un des partisans de Hanaway, John Hancock, a commencé à dire aux gens que Schweich était juive. Hancock a dit qu'il peut avoir mentionné le patrimoine de Schweich à quelques personnes comme un fait neutre, et n'a pas l'intention de blesser ses chances en attisant l'antisémitisme.
Schweich, en fait, n'a pas été juif; il était épiscopalienne, bien que d'origine juive. Schweich soupçonné les alliés de Hanaway avaient lancé une campagne de chuchotement antisémite contre lui-perspective, il trouva profondément troublant, selon les rapports des publications locales et nationales.
Une autre partie de la course a été pesé sur son esprit ainsi: une annonce radio, racontée par un son semblables Frank Underwood, qui a critiqué son apparence physique en disant qu'il ressemblait au shérif adjoint dans The Andy Griffith Show. L'annonce, que vous pouvez écouter ici, aussi appelé Schweich faible.
"Une fois que Schweich obtient l'investiture républicaine, nous allons rapidement lui écraser comme le petit bug qu'il est," entonna le narrateur.
Roe, travaillant pour la campagne de Hanaway, a pris la responsabilité de l'annonce. Il a déclaré au Kansas City Star qu'il a payé pour cela à l'air pendant le Rush Limbaugh Show. L'annonce a quitté Schweich profondément ébranlée, selon ses amis.
"J'ai parlé à Tom deux jours avant qu'il ne s'abattu et il était terriblement bouleversé," Danforth a déclaré à The Daily Beast. "Et il a été bouleversé par deux choses: L'une était la radio commerciale qui était en cours d'exécution se moquer de son apparence physique. Mais plus encore, il était bouleversé de ce que je qualifierais une expédition de pêche dans les eaux de l'antisémitisme ".
Deux jours après cette conversation, Schweich se suicida. La mort a choqué le monde politique Missouri. Selon le Washington Post, son épouse par la suite dit à la police qu'il avait parlé de suicide dans le passé tout en maintenant une arme à feu.
Danforth a déclaré Roe porte une certaine responsabilité pour la mort de Schweich.
GET THE BEAST DANS VOTRE INBOX!

Entrez votre adresse email
En cliquant sur "Abonnez-vous", vous acceptez d'avoir lu les Conditions d'utilisation et Politique de confidentialité
SOUSCRIRE
"Oui, bien sûr, bien sûr il le fait," at-il dit. «Quand deux jours avant un homme se tire à mort, il est bouleversé une radio commerciale et il est de Roe commerciale bien sûr. Vous ne faites juste des choses sales aux gens et puis juste marcher loin de lui comme si, 'Oh, je ne fais rien. Bien sûr, vous avez fait. «Je ne suis pas responsable." Bien sûr, vous êtes. Bien sûr, vous êtes responsable. "
Danforth a fait des commentaires similaires dans l'homélie pour les funérailles de Schweich, qu'il a prononcé.
«Les mots, pour Jésus, pourrait être l'équivalent moral d'assassiner," at-il dit dans l'homélie l'année dernière. "Il a dit que si nous insulter un frère ou une sœur, nous serons responsables. Il a dit que si nous appelons quelqu'un un imbécile, nous serons responsables de l'enfer ".
Dans une interview avec The Daily Beast, Roe a refusé de donner un commentaire supplémentaire sur toutes les allégations de culpabilité pour la mort de Schweich.
Quelques mois après le suicide, Roe a déclaré au Kansas City Star que la mort l'avait attristé. Et il a défendu l'annonce.
"Sa ressemblance avec Barney Fife avait été caractérisé dans les journaux Missouri," Roe a déclaré au journal. "Il se moque de lui-même sur le moignon. Il était une parodie. "
En parlant avec The Daily Beast, Roe a déclaré attaques sur le caractère moral de la campagne de Cruz sont meritless.
«Cette campagne est alimentée par des millions de personnes à travers le pays qui mettent leur cœur et leur âme dans l'élection d'un conservateur cohérent, et bien sûr nos adversaires auraient à attaquer notre crédibilité sous-jacente de dire la vérité», dit-il.
"Ils veulent changer le sujet de leurs dossiers libéraux, qu'ils admettent, et c'est exactement ce que nous voyons ici," Roe ajouté.
Bien que Danforth-le doyen du Missouri républicain politique-blâme Roe de la mort, d'autres conservateurs de premier plan dans l'état le défendre.
"Personne ne devrait être blâmé pour le suicide d'un homme», a déclaré Ed Martin, président de Eagle Forum, qui est basé à St. Louis. «Je ne mets sur Roe ou quelqu'un."
Martin a ajouté qu'il désapprouvait l'homélie de Danforth.
"L'homélie de Danforth, quand je me suis assis sur le banc, ce fut une chose terrible, il était une chose terriblement inappropriée», dit-il. "Danforth aurait dû tenir une conférence de presse après, pas à l'éloge funèbre. Et à cause de cela, il a vraiment filé tout l'argument d'une manière qui était pas vraiment juste ".
Et il a dit que Schweich attaques face ne sont que la politique comme d'habitude et la réprobation spéciale que s'il avait commis le suicide, ils ne seraient pas tirées.
Bill Kenney, qui dirige la Commission de la fonction publique du Missouri, d'accord.
"Je pense que tout homme politique se rend compte que la politique est la politique", a déclaré Kenney, qui est un ancien sénateur de l'Etat. "Les annonces de radio n'a pas causé Tom Schweich de prendre sa vie.
«J'aime Jeff," at-il ajouté. "Je suis heureux que je suis hors de la politique, donc je ne l'ai contre moi."
Après la mort de Schweich, beaucoup ont appelé à un changement dans la culture politique du Missouri.
"L'auditeur pourrait avoir appuyé sur la gâchette, mais les tyrans qui faisaient campagne contre lui occupé le pistolet sur sa tête," lire un éditorial du St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"Tom Schweich est un martyr pour la cause», a déclaré le même éditorial.
Mais un an plus tard, Danforth a dit, les choses ne sont pas mieux. Et maintenant, l'un des hommes qu'il détient en partie coupable de la mort de Schweich est en cours d'exécution d'une campagne présidentielle de haut niveau.
Danforth a également dit les trucs soi-disant sales qui ont endommagé la réputation de la campagne Cruz sont tous classiques Jeff Roe. Comme exemples de ces tours, il a souligné le «électeur violation" mailer dans l'Iowa, la fausse déclaration que Carson était sur le point d'abandonner la course à la présidentielle, et l'utilisation d'une image photoshopped de Marco Rubio se serrant la main avec le président Obama.
"Je ne sais pas Roe, mais je sais ce qu'il a fait à Schweich," at-il dit. "Et dès que je l'ai vu ce qui est arrivé à Carson dans l'Iowa, je me suis dit, cela est Jeff Roe."
Martin a dit Cruz ne devrait pas être surpris que sa campagne prend beaucoup de chaleur pour ses tactiques. Après tout, dit-il, voilà ce que Cruz aurait dû attendre quand il a embauché Roe: controverses et de critiques.
"Il aime jouer de façon très agressive et flashily», a déclaré Martin. "Il y a beaucoup de gens qui font Hardball tactiques qui vous n'entendez à partir, on ne sait jamais. Ensuite, il y a le modèle Lee Atwater, où vous parlez, et le modèle Jeff Roe, où vous vous complaisez en elle.
"Il a un problème maintenant," Martin a continué. "Et je parie qu'ils vont répondre, mais ils ont certainement un problème de perception."
Danforth dit la campagne Cruz a beaucoup plus de problèmes que son image.
"Dans l'article du New York Times à propos de Roe, il a dit:« Eh bien, il est un maître de sales tours, mais il fonctionne, "a déclaré Danforth. "Eh bien, je ne pense pas que ce soit."
Danforth a noté que, bien que Roe a aidé plusieurs candidats gagner des courses tout l'État, il a également écrit à la craie jusqu'à un certain nombre de haut profil des pertes, y compris une défaite de cloques dans le comté de Jackson, où il a dirigé un effort de 1 million $ en 2013 pour augmenter les impôts de vente. Moins de 14 pour cent des électeurs a fini par soutenir l'effort.
"Je ne pense pas perdre une campagne à Kansas City 86-14 est exactement une réalisation brillante», a déclaré Danforth. "Vous avez presque à essayer de le faire. Qui avait jamais embaucher ce gars? "
D'autres pertes échelle de l'État comprennent la défaite de Sarah Steelman dans le primaire au poste de gouverneur 2008, 2008 offre publique d'élection générale de Brad Lager pour le trésorier et la campagne de Bill Stouffer dans la primaire républicaine 2012 secrétaire d'Etat.
Roe a gagné beaucoup de courses, en particulier au niveau local et au Congrès. Mais tout l'État, il a également perdu beaucoup.
Un an plus tard, la famille et les amis de Schweich pleurent encore.
"Je pense qu'il était probablement trop sensible une personne d'être en politique élective, mais alors quoi?" Dit Danforth. «Est-ce que cela veut dire que nous avons tous ne voulons que le peuple rough-and-tumble en politique? Je ne le pense pas. Est-ce OK pour prendre à quelqu'un qui est sensible? Je ne pense pas. "


translated on google translate--edit suggestions appreciated


from thedailybeast.com


Charlie Riedel/AP

BLAME

02.25.16 9:05 PM ET

Missouri Suicide Haunts Ted Cruz Campaign

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich killed himself a year ago, but his friends still believe the man managing Ted Cruz’s campaign is, in part, responsible for his death.
One year ago today, the Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich took his own life.
Schweich’s political mentor, former Sen. John Danforth, blames Ted Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, for contributing to his death and said Cruz’s decision to hire him should give voters pause.
It’s not a universal view—far from it. Roe rejects any responsibility for the suicide, and police haven’t in any way assigned him with legal culpability for Schweich’s death. But as Cruz’s opponents question his character, some point to Schweich’s death as evidence of a morally sick presidential campaign.
At the very least, it’s a PR nightmare.
As Cruz gears up for a month of primaries that will likely determine the Republican nominee, his campaign manager has gotten significant attention. That includes a Page One New York Times story describing Roe as “an operative with a reputation for scorching earth, stretching truths, and winning elections.”
Danforth says the truth is less sexy: that Roe loses—a lot—and that his bad-boy brand is a major hindrance to Cruz’s presidential hopes.
A year ago, Roe was working for Catherine Hanaway, who was (and still is) running in the primary to be Missouri’s next Republican gubernatorial nominee. Schweich, then the state auditor, was the contest’s frontrunner. The race got ugly fast.
One of Hanaway’s supporters, John Hancock, started telling people that Schweich was Jewish. Hancock said he may have mentioned Schweich’s heritage to a few people as a neutral fact, and didn’t intend to hurt his chances by stoking anti-Semitism.
Schweich, in fact, was not Jewish; he was Episcopalian, though of Jewish ancestry. Schweich suspected Hanaway’s allies had launched an anti-Semitic whisper campaign against him—a prospect he found deeply disturbing, according to reports from local andnational publications.
Another part of the race was weighing on his mind as well: a radio ad, narrated by a Frank Underwood sound-alike, that criticized his physical appearance by saying he looked like the deputy sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show. The ad, which you can listen to here, also called Schweich weak.
“Once Schweich obtains the Republican nomination, we will quickly squash him like the little bug that he is,” intoned the narrator.
Roe, working for Hanaway’s campaign, took responsibility for the ad. He told The Kansas City Star that he paid for it to air during The Rush Limbaugh Show. The ad left Schweich deeply shaken, according to his friends.
“I talked to Tom two days before he shot himself to death and he was terribly upset,” Danforth told The Daily Beast. “And he was upset about two things: One was the radio commercial that was being run making fun of his physical appearance. But even more, he was upset about what I would call a fishing expedition in the waters of anti-Semitism.”
Two days after that conversation, Schweich shot himself. The death shocked the Missouri political world. According to The Washington Posthis wife subsequently told police that he’d talked about suicide in the past while holding a gun.
Danforth said Roe bears some responsibility for Schweich’s death.
GET THE BEAST IN YOUR INBOX!
By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read theTerms of Use and Privacy Policy
“Yes, of course, of course he does,” he said. “When two days before a man shoots himself to death he’s upset about a radio commercial and it’s Roe’s commercial—of course. You don’t just do dirty things to people and then just walk away from it as though, ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything.’ Of course you did. ‘I’m not responsible.’ Of course you are. Of course you’re responsible.”
Danforth made similar comments in the homily for Schweich’s funeral, which he delivered.
“Words, for Jesus, could be the moral equivalent of murder,” he said in the homily last year. “He said if we insult a brother or sister, we will be liable. He said if we call someone a fool, we will be liable to hell.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Roe declined to give additional comment on any allegations of culpability for Schweich’s death.
A few months after the suicide, Roe told The Kansas City Star that the death had saddened him. And he defended the ad.
“His resemblance to Barney Fife had been characterized in Missouri newspapers,” Roe told the paper. “He made fun of himself on the stump. It was a parody.”
Speaking with The Daily Beast, Roe said attacks on the moral character of Cruz’s campaign are meritless.
“This campaign is being fueled by millions of people around the country who are putting their heart and soul into electing a consistent conservative, and of course our opponents would have to attack our underlying credibility of telling the truth,” he said.
“They want to change the subject from their liberal records, that they admit, and that’s exactly what we see here,” Roe added.
Though Danforth—the elder statesman of Missouri Republican politics—blames Roe for the death, other prominent conservatives in the state defend him.
“Nobody should be blamed for a guy’s suicide,” said Ed Martin, the president of Eagle Forum, which is based in St. Louis. “I don’t lay it on Roe or anybody.”
Martin added that he disapproved of Danforth’s homily.
“Danforth’s homily, when I sat in the pew, it was a terrible thing—it was a terribly inappropriate thing,” he said. “Danforth should have held a press conference afterwards, not at the eulogy. And because of that, it really spun the whole argument in a way that wasn’t really fair.”
And he said the attacks Schweich faced are just politics as usual—and that if he hadn’t committed suicide, they wouldn’t have drawn special reprobation.
Bill Kenney, who heads Missouri’s Public Service Commission, concurred.
“I think any politician realizes that politics is politics,” said Kenney, who is a former state senator. “The radio ads didn’t cause Tom Schweich to take his life.
“I like Jeff,” he added. “I’m glad I’m out of politics so I don’t have him against me.”
After Schweich’s death, many called for a change in Missouri’s political culture.
“The auditor might have pulled the trigger, but the bullies who were campaigning against him held the gun to his head,” read an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Tom Schweich is a martyr for the cause,” the same editorial said.
But a year later, Danforth said, things aren’t better. And now, one of the men he holds partly culpable for Schweich’s death is running a top-tier presidential campaign.
Danforth also said the so-called dirty tricks that have damaged the Cruz campaign’s reputation are all classic Jeff Roe. As examples of those tricks, he pointed to the “voter violation” mailer in Iowa, the false statement that Carson was about to drop out of the presidential race, and the use of a photoshopped image of Marco Rubio shaking hands with President Obama.
“I don’t know Roe, but I know what he did to Schweich,” he said. “And as soon as I saw what happened to Carson in Iowa, I said to myself, this is Jeff Roe.”
Martin said Cruz shouldn’t be surprised that his campaign is taking significant heat for its tactics. After all, he said, that’s what Cruz should have expected when he hired Roe: controversy and criticism.
“He likes to play very aggressively and flashily,” Martin said. “There are plenty of people who do hardball tactics who you never hear from, you never know. Then there’s the Lee Atwater model, where you talk about it, and the Jeff Roe model, where you revel in it.
“He’s got a problem now,” Martin continued. “And I bet they’ll address it, but they definitely have a perception problem.”
Danforth said the Cruz campaign has far greater problems than its image.
“In The New York Times article about Roe it said, ‘Well, he’s a master of dirty tricks, but it works,’” Danforth said. “Well, I don’t think it does.”
Danforth noted that while Roe has helped several candidates win statewide races, he’s also chalked up a number of high-profile losses—including a blistering defeat in Jackson County, where he led a $1 million effort in 2013 to hike sales taxes. Fewer than 14 percent of voters ended up supporting the effort.
“I don’t think losing a campaign in Kansas City 86 to 14 is exactly a stellar accomplishment,” Danforth said. “You almost have to try to do that. Who’d ever hire this guy?”
Other statewide losses include Sarah Steelman’s defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial primary, Brad Lager’s 2008 general election bid for treasurer, and Bill Stouffer’s campaign in the 2012 Republican primary for secretary of state.
Roe has won plenty of races, especially on the local and congressional levels. But statewide, he’s also lost a lot.
A year later, Schweich’s family and friends still grieve.
“I think he was probably too sensitive a person to be in elective politics, but so what?” Danforth said. “Does that mean that we all only want the rough-and-tumble people in politics? I don’t think so. Is it OK to pick on somebody who is sensitive? I don’t think so.”

Missouri Suicide Haunts Ted Cruz Campaign: Betsy Woodruff at The Daily Beast

Charlie Riedel/AP

BLAME

02.25.16 9:05 PM ET

Missouri Suicide Haunts Ted Cruz Campaign

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich killed himself a year ago, but his friends still believe the man managing Ted Cruz’s campaign is, in part, responsible for his death.
One year ago today, the Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich took his own life.
Schweich’s political mentor, former Sen. John Danforth, blames Ted Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, for contributing to his death and said Cruz’s decision to hire him should give voters pause.
It’s not a universal view—far from it. Roe rejects any responsibility for the suicide, and police haven’t in any way assigned him with legal culpability for Schweich’s death. But as Cruz’s opponents question his character, some point to Schweich’s death as evidence of a morally sick presidential campaign.
At the very least, it’s a PR nightmare.
As Cruz gears up for a month of primaries that will likely determine the Republican nominee, his campaign manager has gotten significant attention. That includes a Page One New York Times story describing Roe as “an operative with a reputation for scorching earth, stretching truths, and winning elections.”
Danforth says the truth is less sexy: that Roe loses—a lot—and that his bad-boy brand is a major hindrance to Cruz’s presidential hopes.
A year ago, Roe was working for Catherine Hanaway, who was (and still is) running in the primary to be Missouri’s next Republican gubernatorial nominee. Schweich, then the state auditor, was the contest’s frontrunner. The race got ugly fast.
One of Hanaway’s supporters, John Hancock, started telling people that Schweich was Jewish. Hancock said he may have mentioned Schweich’s heritage to a few people as a neutral fact, and didn’t intend to hurt his chances by stoking anti-Semitism.
Schweich, in fact, was not Jewish; he was Episcopalian, though of Jewish ancestry. Schweich suspected Hanaway’s allies had launched an anti-Semitic whisper campaign against him—a prospect he found deeply disturbing, according to reports from local andnational publications.
Another part of the race was weighing on his mind as well: a radio ad, narrated by a Frank Underwood sound-alike, that criticized his physical appearance by saying he looked like the deputy sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show. The ad, which you can listen to here, also called Schweich weak.
“Once Schweich obtains the Republican nomination, we will quickly squash him like the little bug that he is,” intoned the narrator.
Roe, working for Hanaway’s campaign, took responsibility for the ad. He told The Kansas City Star that he paid for it to air during The Rush Limbaugh Show. The ad left Schweich deeply shaken, according to his friends.
“I talked to Tom two days before he shot himself to death and he was terribly upset,” Danforth told The Daily Beast. “And he was upset about two things: One was the radio commercial that was being run making fun of his physical appearance. But even more, he was upset about what I would call a fishing expedition in the waters of anti-Semitism.”
Two days after that conversation, Schweich shot himself. The death shocked the Missouri political world. According to The Washington Posthis wife subsequently told police that he’d talked about suicide in the past while holding a gun.
Danforth said Roe bears some responsibility for Schweich’s death.
GET THE BEAST IN YOUR INBOX!
By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read theTerms of Use and Privacy Policy
“Yes, of course, of course he does,” he said. “When two days before a man shoots himself to death he’s upset about a radio commercial and it’s Roe’s commercial—of course. You don’t just do dirty things to people and then just walk away from it as though, ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything.’ Of course you did. ‘I’m not responsible.’ Of course you are. Of course you’re responsible.”
Danforth made similar comments in the homily for Schweich’s funeral, which he delivered.
“Words, for Jesus, could be the moral equivalent of murder,” he said in the homily last year. “He said if we insult a brother or sister, we will be liable. He said if we call someone a fool, we will be liable to hell.”
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Roe declined to give additional comment on any allegations of culpability for Schweich’s death.
A few months after the suicide, Roe told The Kansas City Star that the death had saddened him. And he defended the ad.
“His resemblance to Barney Fife had been characterized in Missouri newspapers,” Roe told the paper. “He made fun of himself on the stump. It was a parody.”
Speaking with The Daily Beast, Roe said attacks on the moral character of Cruz’s campaign are meritless.
“This campaign is being fueled by millions of people around the country who are putting their heart and soul into electing a consistent conservative, and of course our opponents would have to attack our underlying credibility of telling the truth,” he said.
“They want to change the subject from their liberal records, that they admit, and that’s exactly what we see here,” Roe added.
Though Danforth—the elder statesman of Missouri Republican politics—blames Roe for the death, other prominent conservatives in the state defend him.
“Nobody should be blamed for a guy’s suicide,” said Ed Martin, the president of Eagle Forum, which is based in St. Louis. “I don’t lay it on Roe or anybody.”
Martin added that he disapproved of Danforth’s homily.
“Danforth’s homily, when I sat in the pew, it was a terrible thing—it was a terribly inappropriate thing,” he said. “Danforth should have held a press conference afterwards, not at the eulogy. And because of that, it really spun the whole argument in a way that wasn’t really fair.”
And he said the attacks Schweich faced are just politics as usual—and that if he hadn’t committed suicide, they wouldn’t have drawn special reprobation.
Bill Kenney, who heads Missouri’s Public Service Commission, concurred.
“I think any politician realizes that politics is politics,” said Kenney, who is a former state senator. “The radio ads didn’t cause Tom Schweich to take his life.
“I like Jeff,” he added. “I’m glad I’m out of politics so I don’t have him against me.”
After Schweich’s death, many called for a change in Missouri’s political culture.
“The auditor might have pulled the trigger, but the bullies who were campaigning against him held the gun to his head,” read an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Tom Schweich is a martyr for the cause,” the same editorial said.
But a year later, Danforth said, things aren’t better. And now, one of the men he holds partly culpable for Schweich’s death is running a top-tier presidential campaign.
Danforth also said the so-called dirty tricks that have damaged the Cruz campaign’s reputation are all classic Jeff Roe. As examples of those tricks, he pointed to the “voter violation” mailer in Iowa, the false statement that Carson was about to drop out of the presidential race, and the use of a photoshopped image of Marco Rubio shaking hands with President Obama.
“I don’t know Roe, but I know what he did to Schweich,” he said. “And as soon as I saw what happened to Carson in Iowa, I said to myself, this is Jeff Roe.”
Martin said Cruz shouldn’t be surprised that his campaign is taking significant heat for its tactics. After all, he said, that’s what Cruz should have expected when he hired Roe: controversy and criticism.
“He likes to play very aggressively and flashily,” Martin said. “There are plenty of people who do hardball tactics who you never hear from, you never know. Then there’s the Lee Atwater model, where you talk about it, and the Jeff Roe model, where you revel in it.
“He’s got a problem now,” Martin continued. “And I bet they’ll address it, but they definitely have a perception problem.”
Danforth said the Cruz campaign has far greater problems than its image.
“In The New York Times article about Roe it said, ‘Well, he’s a master of dirty tricks, but it works,’” Danforth said. “Well, I don’t think it does.”
Danforth noted that while Roe has helped several candidates win statewide races, he’s also chalked up a number of high-profile losses—including a blistering defeat in Jackson County, where he led a $1 million effort in 2013 to hike sales taxes. Fewer than 14 percent of voters ended up supporting the effort.
“I don’t think losing a campaign in Kansas City 86 to 14 is exactly a stellar accomplishment,” Danforth said. “You almost have to try to do that. Who’d ever hire this guy?”
Other statewide losses include Sarah Steelman’s defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial primary, Brad Lager’s 2008 general election bid for treasurer, and Bill Stouffer’s campaign in the 2012 Republican primary for secretary of state.
Roe has won plenty of races, especially on the local and congressional levels. But statewide, he’s also lost a lot.
A year later, Schweich’s family and friends still grieve.
“I think he was probably too sensitive a person to be in elective politics, but so what?” Danforth said. “Does that mean that we all only want the rough-and-tumble people in politics? I don’t think so. Is it OK to pick on somebody who is sensitive? I don’t think so.”


from the dailybeast.com