DIRTY TRICKS
by Steve Fair
Politics has always included dirty tricks. Take for example the presidential campaign of 1828, which pitted incumbent John Quincy Adams against Andrew Jackson. This was a rematch of the 1824 election. In 1824, because none of the five candidates received a majority of the electoral votes, the election was thrown into the U.S. House of Representatives. Jackson had received more popular and electoral votes than Adams which had resulted in bad blood between the two men. The rematch in ’28 became what is perhaps the dirtiest campaign in American political history. Jackson was accused by Adams of murder, gambling, slave trading and treason. They called him a 'military chieftain,' and said his mother was a prostitute, his father a mulatto man, and his wife a bigamist. After the attack on his dead mother, Andrew’s wife Rachel found Old Hickory in tears pointing to a newspaper article and saying, “Myself I can defend; you I can defend; but now they have assailed even the memory of my mother." But Jackson’s supporters were not innocent. Adams was accused of installing gambling tables in the White House at the public expense, of padding his expense account, and even of pimping women for the Russian monarch.
According to author Joseph Cummins, politics is not getting dirtier as some claim. In his book, Anything for a Vote, Cummins says, “a rough rule of thumb is that incumbent parties tend to play the most dirty tricks, perhaps because they have the ways and means to do so." Cummins says the dirtiest presidential race was not the Jackson/Adams race, but the Johnson/Goldwater race in 1964. “President Lyndon Johnson, seeking his first elective term after taking over for the assassinated JFK, set out not just to defeat Goldwater, but to destroy him and create a huge mandate for himself.” Cummins says that Johnson had a top-secret after-hours team that planned the dirty tricks. “There were sixteen political operatives, in close contact with the White House, who set out to influence the perception of Goldwater in America’s popular culture.” “They put out a Goldwater joke book entitled You Can Die Laughing.” “ They even created a children’s coloring book, in which your little one could happily color pictures of Goldwater dressed in the robes of the Ku Klux Klan.” So dirty politics is nothing new- it’s been around since the beginning of the Republic. And it happens at all levels of politics- not just at the national level. When campaigning begin to include signs, opponents begin using dirty tricks to keep the other guys name out of the public eye.
The night of May 25, 2006, Gary Jones, Republican candidate for State Auditor and Inspector pulled one of his two “covered wagon” trailers to Tecumseh and left it behind Branson McKiddy Real Estate in downtown Tecumseh. Jones was locked a rematch with his 2002 opponent Jeff McMahan. The race in 2002 had been very close and the 2006 election looked to be a barnburner as well. Before Jones left, he locked the brakes on the trailer. Jones had enlisted campaign volunteers to drag the eye catching trailer in the Frontier Days parade the next day, because he was to be in another part of the state. When the volunteers, arrived the trailer was gone. It had been stolen. Tecumseh Police Detective J.R. Kidney and a sheriff's deputy found the trailer on property belonging to a City of Tecumseh employee, Justin Lewis of Macomb, on Nov. 2, six weeks after it disappeared.
In Lewis’ August preliminary hearing, Kidney testified that Lewis wouldn't say who brought the trailer to his property but commented that Kidney was “smart and could figure it out.” Lewis later told Deputy Jim Patten that he “wasn't saying anything else and would take whatever happens to me.” Evidently, Lewis was implying someone close to the Jeff McMahan campaign was involved in “trailer-gate.”
Sadly when political dirty tricks occur, there is some media coverage, but for the most part, people chalk it up to a political prank. But stealing other people’s property and concealing it is against the law. Lewis found that out this week. He pled guilty to no contest to a charge of concealing stolen property and was given a deferred sentence. Lewis got two years of supervised probation, has to pay $1,808 in restitution(which he will repay to Jones $100 a month) and do one hundred hours of community service, but no jail time. So dirty tricks don’t pay, but Lewis should have gotten more punishment for his "prank."
Vandalizing and stealing of signage is the modern mode of choice for dirty tricksters. This slap on the wrist of Lewis for the stealing of Jones’ trailer sends a message to like-minded punks. They now know that it’s OK to misbehave so long as the property they steal or deface has a political message on it. The light sentence will encourage more of the same crap in 2008.
According to author Joseph Cummins, politics is not getting dirtier as some claim. In his book, Anything for a Vote, Cummins says, “a rough rule of thumb is that incumbent parties tend to play the most dirty tricks, perhaps because they have the ways and means to do so." Cummins says the dirtiest presidential race was not the Jackson/Adams race, but the Johnson/Goldwater race in 1964. “President Lyndon Johnson, seeking his first elective term after taking over for the assassinated JFK, set out not just to defeat Goldwater, but to destroy him and create a huge mandate for himself.” Cummins says that Johnson had a top-secret after-hours team that planned the dirty tricks. “There were sixteen political operatives, in close contact with the White House, who set out to influence the perception of Goldwater in America’s popular culture.” “They put out a Goldwater joke book entitled You Can Die Laughing.” “ They even created a children’s coloring book, in which your little one could happily color pictures of Goldwater dressed in the robes of the Ku Klux Klan.” So dirty politics is nothing new- it’s been around since the beginning of the Republic. And it happens at all levels of politics- not just at the national level. When campaigning begin to include signs, opponents begin using dirty tricks to keep the other guys name out of the public eye.
The night of May 25, 2006, Gary Jones, Republican candidate for State Auditor and Inspector pulled one of his two “covered wagon” trailers to Tecumseh and left it behind Branson McKiddy Real Estate in downtown Tecumseh. Jones was locked a rematch with his 2002 opponent Jeff McMahan. The race in 2002 had been very close and the 2006 election looked to be a barnburner as well. Before Jones left, he locked the brakes on the trailer. Jones had enlisted campaign volunteers to drag the eye catching trailer in the Frontier Days parade the next day, because he was to be in another part of the state. When the volunteers, arrived the trailer was gone. It had been stolen. Tecumseh Police Detective J.R. Kidney and a sheriff's deputy found the trailer on property belonging to a City of Tecumseh employee, Justin Lewis of Macomb, on Nov. 2, six weeks after it disappeared.
In Lewis’ August preliminary hearing, Kidney testified that Lewis wouldn't say who brought the trailer to his property but commented that Kidney was “smart and could figure it out.” Lewis later told Deputy Jim Patten that he “wasn't saying anything else and would take whatever happens to me.” Evidently, Lewis was implying someone close to the Jeff McMahan campaign was involved in “trailer-gate.”
Sadly when political dirty tricks occur, there is some media coverage, but for the most part, people chalk it up to a political prank. But stealing other people’s property and concealing it is against the law. Lewis found that out this week. He pled guilty to no contest to a charge of concealing stolen property and was given a deferred sentence. Lewis got two years of supervised probation, has to pay $1,808 in restitution(which he will repay to Jones $100 a month) and do one hundred hours of community service, but no jail time. So dirty tricks don’t pay, but Lewis should have gotten more punishment for his "prank."
Vandalizing and stealing of signage is the modern mode of choice for dirty tricksters. This slap on the wrist of Lewis for the stealing of Jones’ trailer sends a message to like-minded punks. They now know that it’s OK to misbehave so long as the property they steal or deface has a political message on it. The light sentence will encourage more of the same crap in 2008.
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