One of the more interesting stories in the blogosphere this election cycle concerns Pete Guither and Drug WarRant. Pete took on an ambitious task this year, looking at a number of races around the country. He's from Illinois, and his featured race is a congressional contest between incumbent Republican Jerry Weller and Democrat Tari Renner, Pete endorsing Renner.
Pete's endorsement has become a major issue in the race, with Weller running an ad accusing Renner of...well here's part of a Chicago Sun-Times article:
Speaking of smears, Weller, in the closing days of the campaign, is running a radio ad and sending out a direct mail piece noting that Renner is endorsed on a Web site called "DrugwarRant.com" and implying that Renner is somehow aligned with a group promoting heroin use. The race is featured on the site, but Renner is not for what they are for and told me he never asked for their help. Said Renner, this is "as low as it's gotten."
And the highlight was Renner blowing up over allegations he supports the use of all drugs including heroin.
He called the attack scurrilous and said Weller stepped way over the line.
Weller says Renner accepted a campaign donation from a website that also has directions on how to inject heroin.
Emphasis mine. Pete responds:
I don't even know how to inject heroin. And I don't support the use of heroin. Never have. I do support changes in how we deal with it because our current policies are abject failures.
In case anyone from Illinois' 11th district wanders by in the next few days, you should know you've got a liar for a congressman. Vote him out.
While reading about this I was reminded of where I'd heard Weller's name before. It was in the news a few months back when he became engaged to Zury Rios Sosa, a lawmaker in Guatemala. Her father is Jose Efrain Rios Montt, the ex-dictator of the nation. I've written about him before.
The two plan to keep their political offices after the marriage.
Posted by Walter at October 30, 2004 09:26 AM