Blagojevich's ads use Topinka's words against her
By Deanna Bellandi
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/21/2006
CHICAGO
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is using state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka's words against her in TV commercials that started airing Thursday, an early salvo in the campaign for an election that is still more than six months away.
The ads highlight Topinka's opposition to an assault weapons ban and a dollar-an-hour increase in the minimum wage, two key features of Blagojevich's re-election campaign.
The first-term Democrat can afford to buy statewide TV airtime because he barely cracked into his $15 million campaign fund to win his party's nomination. Topinka, on the other hand, all but wiped out her campaign cash to win the GOP primary.
Recent poll numbers show Blagojevich and Topinka running about even.
"He's already desperate," said Topinka's lieutenant governor running mate, DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett.
The four 15-second spots are running statewide. Two feature images of Topinka and two show Blagojevich. Relatives of gun violence victims appeared at a Blagojevich campaign event Thursday to unveil the ads.
One ad features GOP primary debate footage of Topinka - who has said she opposes an assault weapons ban because such weapons are hard to define - saying that "a rolling pin could be an assault weapon if you really wanted to look at it that way."
Another shows Topinka talking, although no words are heard, with a narrator saying Topinka called the governor's proposed minimum wage increase a "giveaway program."
In the two ads featuring Blagojevich, he often speaks directly into the camera, pledging to work to get the assault weapons ban and minimum wage increase passed. The footage of Blagojevich comes from a March 25 town hall meeting, but the ads don't say where the event was and don't show any audience members.
The meeting was held at a Chicago public school in Blagojevich's neighborhood and was not open to the media, campaign spokesman Doug Scofield said. He said the event was not scripted for the cameras that were there to record it.
Thomas J. Waters School Principal Tomas Revollo said 25 to 40 people attended, including teachers, parents and residents.
The Blagojevich campaign said it wasn't concerned about coming out with the ads so soon after the primary.
Topinka, while she hasn't taken her campaign to the airwaves yet, has been consistently critical of the governor.
Blagojevich, who three years ago succeeded in getting the minimum wage raised to $6.50 an hour up from $5.15, now wants it raised to $7.50. It's a proposal Topinka has said could cost the state jobs.
A ban on assault weapons has been politically less palatable, repeatedly failing in the Legislature amid concerns from gun owners and downstate lawmakers about improperly limiting gun rights. Topinka has said the state should step up its enforcement of existing gun laws.
The Blagojevich campaign won't say how much the ads are costing, but they debuted one day after a jam-packed fundraiser for Blagojevich in Chicago that was expected to rake in several million dollars. The campaign won't release a final money tally before campaign finance reports.
Birkett, Topinka's running mate, said their campaign plans to eventually run TV spots.
