Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins has reprimanded her own campaign staffers for being too aggressive at her opponent’s events.
Jenkins’ Democratic challenger, Britani Potter, likely poses little threat to Jenkins’ seat in the U.S. House of Representatives come November. Potter had just $771 cash in her campaign war chest as of July, while Jenkins has raised more than $1.7 million, according to Federal Election Commission data.
But apparently that didn’t stop some of Jenkins’ campaign staffers from going a bit too far in their zeal for reelecting the congresswoman.
Potter accuses Jenkins staffers of acting as the congresswoman’s “personal spies to infiltrate my campaign.”
She told the Topeka Capital-Journal last week that the staffers followed her on the campaign trail, heckling her with hostile questions and recording her answers. She said that Jenkins’ political director Elizabeth Dunn even tried to register as a volunteer.
“If (Jenkins) is willing to commit espionage, pay staffers to lie and create false identities ... what other corrupt and deceitful tactics will she use to get what she wants?” Potter told the Capital-Journal.
The strategy of “political tracking” opponents with cameras and audio recording devices is common, but this time Jenkins had to acknowledge some of her staffers had gone too far.
Lee Modesitt, Jenkins’ campaign manager, said that some staffers have been reprimanded.
“A few members of our college-aged campaign staff were overly aggressive in trying to get answers,” Modesitt said in a statement released to the Capital-Journal and local television stations. “Upon learning of this, the congresswoman advised those staff members that this is not how we run a campaign and has been assured it will not happen again.”
But Modesitt also seemed to blame Potter for not being forthcoming enough about who she supports for president, her stance on closing Guantanamo Bay and her position on the Second Amendment.
“In order to get answers on these important federal issues, members of the campaign attended public campaign events and monitored her campaign Facebook page…Unfortunately, there is little interaction on her Facebook page and literally no one else showed up to many of her events.”
Lindsay Wise: 202-383-6007, @lindsaywise
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