Les, It Is Time To Simply Stop Spinning

Political scientists will be studying the Les Otten campaign as a wonderful example of what not to do when faced with a political scandal for years.

Today, the Portland Press Herald ran a story on the evolving controversy – specifically the resignation of a campaign staffer/consultant – in which Otten continued to try to spin for himself.  Rather than swallowing the bitter pill and putting the story to rest, Otten continues to try to turn this affair into some sort of less serious problem.  In so doing, he creates larger problems for himself.

Exhibit A:  Otten’s response to the Poliquin campaign’s hammering of Otten on the issue of plagiarism in his “jobs plan” – the great ignored part of this story in the media thus far:

In response, Otten said the section in question is not plagiarism but the result of mutual collaboration.

“If there are similarities, there are similarities because we collaborated, as all candidates are encouraged to collaborate, if they agree, with the Maine Heritage Policy Center,” he said. “I’m not going to respond to Poliquin.”

Once again, Otten is attempting to give the impression that he and Maine Heritage somehow worked together to craft the sections in question on his “jobs plan”.  As has already been pointed out (more than once) by Steve Bowen, this is utterly false.  Les Otten had absolutely no hand at all in crafting anything he used in the offending sections of his jobs plan.  It was the hard work of the fine folks at Maine Heritage.  It was their research, their writing, and their testimony.

You didn’t collaborate on any of it, Les.  Your campaign – as you claim this one sacrificial lamb staffer – took somebody else’s material and passed it off as your own.  You had no role in collaborating with Maine Heritage, so stop lying about it.

Otten also outright lies about the contents of his job plan.  As I pointed out – in excruciating detail -  Saturday, Les Otten’s jobs plan has word for word text from Maine Heritage in more than one location in the “plan”.  They have since attempted to cover up that fact (embarrassing that even as of today I still consider their attribution to be insufficient and word for word text is still present with somewhat misleading attempts to cite), but that doesn’t change the fact that Poliquin’s release was correct, and Otten had plagiarized material in his jobs plan.

Simply saying “there were similarities” suggests that your campaign did not steal Maine Heritage’s work, but instead had similar material only.  That is not true, and Otten knows it isn’t true.

I’m not the only one irritated by how Otten is lying as he tries to salvage the sinking ship that is his campaign.  Today, the Bangor Daily News ran a scathing editorial, taking Otten to task for not only taking other people’s work and claiming it as his own, but for outright lying (or being disturbingly uninformed) about key arguments in his campaign.  From the BDN:

During a recent interview with the Bangor Daily News, Mr. Otten spent much of the time decrying the state’s high taxes, especially its capital gains and estate taxes. These high levies have driven many of the state’s most prominent residents away from Maine, he said, adding that “we all know who they are.” Pressed to identify those who have fled Maine because of its high tax rate, he listed George Mitchell, Bill Cohen, Stephen King and others.

George Mitchell, who maintains a home in Northeast Harbor, resides and works in New York. According to an analysis by Mr. Otten’s campaign, New York’s total tax burden is barely distinguishable from Maine’s. As a percentage of personal income, total tax collections in New York are higher than in Maine, according to the campaign’s so-called tax white paper.

So, if former Sen. Mitchell, who has worked all over the world at the behest of presidents and other leaders, truly chose New York to escape Maine’s tax burden, he didn’t make a very wise choice.

Likewise, Mr. Cohen stayed in the Washington, D.C., area after leaving the U.S. Senate because President Bill Clinton nominated him to serve as his secretary of defense. He has continued to work there presumably because the clients of his consulting group are primarily in Washington or need work done there.

Mr. King, contrary to Mr. Otten’s assertion, has not left Maine. His primary residence is here and he votes here, according to his office. Further, Mr. King and his wife, Tabitha, have donated millions of dollars to charities and projects throughout Maine, showing they care more about sharing their wealth than keeping it to themselves by paying lower taxes.

There is plenty to criticize about Maine’s tax system and burden without making things up.

Candidates — and even governors — sometimes get confused, but when they perpetuate falsehoods or pass off others’ ideas as their own, their integrity deserves close scrutiny.

I don’t even know what to say to that.  I am not aware of a single human being in Maine who does not know that Steven King does in fact still live in Maine.  Where does he even get this stuff?

But Les Otten continues to try to play the victim in this scenario.  While speaking to Maine Public Broadcasting’s AJ Higgins, Otten portrayed himself as some kind of innocent victim, being targeted by a coordinated political smear campaign:

Although neither the non-partisan Heritage Policy Center nor blogger Matt Gagnon are backing any Republican candidate, Otten remains suspicious about exactly why his story is tearing up the blogosphere. “Do I have suspicions? Yes. Do I care to comment? No,” he says. “Ronald Reagan often spoke of the 11th commandment, which is ‘Thou shall not speak ill of thy fellow Republicans,’ and since I live in a glass house, I prefer not to throw stones.”

Here he does two things.

First he implies that I and the rest of the people raising hell over this are somehow acting as an attack wing of some campaign, trying to take down poor Les Otten.

While I did say, “I’m obviously not exactly an impartial source in this because I give a lot more grief to Otten than I think an impartial person would” – that in no way meant I am partisan in this race.  It just meant that Otten’s actions in the last year of this race have turned me into an active opponent to his election.  I like all six candidates other than Les Otten.  I am a member of none of their campaigns, nor do any of them coordinate anything with me (they don’t need to, I’m plugged in enough on my own).  And I should note that it is simply jaw dropping just how bad a Republican has to be for me to attack them like this.  I mean, it has to be really bad – so for me to do what I’m doing means it is pretty bad.

Second he invokes the 11th commandment.  The same 11th commandment that Reagan himself never adhered to as he ran a slash and burn campaign against President Gerald Ford in 1976.  But the important thing here is that Otten is implying that Republicans should not attack Republicans – so he should not be attacked here.

Well, this Republican disagrees.  I hold my own to higher account than the opposition, and believe that the 11th commandment has given us a large number of sub-par candidates with fatal flaws being elected, hampering the growth and credibility of the party.  I did enough sitting on the sidelines, watching as Otten made a mockery of what was supposed to be his party time and time again.  But there comes a time, after repeated plagiarism, donating to two sides in the same race and justifying it as “the cost of doing business”, and now this most recent incident, where even the strongest adherents to this faux concept of the 11th commandment need to abandon it.

Les Otten has made his own bed in that regard, and now it is time for him to lay in it.  You will not get any sympathy from me, and please, stop lying about who is attacking you.  The other candidates have been timid to the point of being pushovers in taking you on.  One of the reasons I have been doing it so aggressively is because they have been so quiet.

A piece of advice for you Les.  Your continued attempts to worm your way out of this by providing excuses, scapegoats, pathetic explanations, and outright lies are actually worse than your campaign’s plagiarism.  If you simply stopped when you said, “I am responsible for what happens in my campaign.  I’m sorry, and the staffer in question has been let go.” – I’d still have been furious at you for allowing this to happen, but I would have moved on by now.

But it is your constant attempts to crawl on the cross and portray yourself as a sympathetic victim getting persecuted for no reason other than your own purity that is the real problem here.

You have been fond of saying that this incident shows what kind of Governor you would be.  I agree – it shows you to be a small, petty human being who shirks responsibility onto others to save your own neck, then tries to use the situation for your own gain by spinning until you damn near fall over.

For the voters of Maine, I believe they have seen all they need to see of you.

PS:  It is kind of hard to be a sympathetic figure and sound like this:

At the time, Otten said that he didn’t want to make a scapegoat of anyone, and that removal from the campaign was punishment enough.

“He is destroyed, that is enough for me,” Otten said around 3:20 p.m. about the then-unnamed employee.

Les Otten, the Destroyer.

By the way, Will, drop me a line, I would love to hear from you and see how you are taking Otten being satisfied at your “destruction”.  I know you said you’d still vote for Les, but it is obvious you are being made a scapegoat and he’s perfectly willing to destroy your reputation if it saves him.  I’d love to hear your side of things.