Defending Diehl from anonymous, fraud hit ads (was it Kotek?)

By Jason Williams
Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

A text went out on Friday making outrageous, (tax/hot-button issue) fraudulent claims against Representative Ed Diehl that were also disturbingly anonymous!!!

The phone number it came from had no dial tone when called.

The ad is trying to derail Rep. Diehl’s greatest achievement: his fight against higher taxes.   I fought side-by-side with Rep. Diehl during the historic gas tax referendum battle, and there are no complaints, nor is there any shortage of heroism, in Rep. Diehl’s tax-cutting legacy despite the anonymous, fraudulent attacks on him.

Sometimes, end-of-campaign anonymous hits come from rival campaigns or their adjacent supporters.  This would be outrageous and damning.  If anyone has knowledge, they need to come forward for the sake of the fragile battle Oregon is in.

This anonymous smear campaign text is similar to mailings from unknown groups that targeted Congresswoman Lori Chavez DeRemer in the last election.  Those mailings took similar hot-button issues important to conservatives and made up false claims that would infuriate conservative voters who were receiving the mailing.   It is a classic voter suppression tactic. Clearly, super-liberal supporters of Janelle Bynum were behind those end-of-campaign hit pieces.   Would Governor Kotek’s supporters be behind such attacks?  I would not count them out.  For liberals, attacking Rep. Ed Diehl is a two-for-one hit.  Diehl is not just about the governor’s race; it is also about his leadership on the claw-back petition referendum on Kotek’s $311 million business tax hike.    Kotek and her supporters wish to stop both.

As a taxpayer advocate of 26 years, I hate to see tax issues being abused and used as anonymous, lying weapons against our cause.

Here is the solution.

If you too hate these anonymous, vile attack ads, then go to NoTaxOregon to sign the tax referendum to stop Kotek’s $311 million tax.   You don’t have to be a Diehl voter to do it.  You don’t have to be a Republican or any party to do it.  It is something we can all do together to punish those who are putting out fraudulent, anonymous hit pieces on our tax-cutting leaders.

Go to NoTaxOregon

Post-script: Even when they take negative photos of Diehl for a negative text advertisement, he still looks good.