I am SO going to miss JD Hayworth.

He's the best cure for writer's block known to man. :))

Things had been quiet for almost a week in the press release war between the Mitchell and Hayworth campaigns. The Mitchell campaign highlighted yesterday's NPR story about CD5 on their website, but it was an even-handed story and they didn't criticize Hayworth in their press release.

Then the Hayworth campaign decided to go after Harry Mitchell for a contribution from Charles Keating 16 or so years ago. They want Harry "to do the right thing by returning the tainted cash." They go on to defend their own candidate's ties to Jack Abramoff by claiming that "Abramoff never visited Congressman Hayworth's office and never held an official meeting with the Congressman" while Keating did meet with Harry.

Guess that means that if the payoffs aren't face-to-face, they don't count, according to JD's rationale, anyway.

They close the main thrust of the press release with some name-calling ("Hypocrite Harry") and a call for Mitchell to "donate his Keating contributions to charity."

The Hayworth campaign has called Mitchell's ethics into question for taking a $2500 contribution from Charlie Keating over a decade and a half ago. Fair enough.

Here are some numbers for the Hayworth campaign to consider:

From Tom Delay's...no, wait for it...the *indicted* Tom Delay's ARMPAC -

3/27/1998 $5000

10/6/1998 3000

9/9/1994 14

10/14/1994 6

10/20/1994 3500

From Jack Abramoff to JD -

6/8/1998 1000

9/30/1996 250

From Abramoff to JD's TEAMPAC -

2/28/1999 1000

From Preston Gates Ellis (Abramoff's firm) to JD -

6/25/1999 1000

3/28/2001 500

From David Safavian (Abramoff associate)...no, wait for it #2...the *convicted* David Safavian to JD -

5/13/1998 783

6/8/1998 200

12/23/1999 250

And, just for giggles - from Enron Corp PAC to JD -

3/31/1998 500

8/11/1999 1000

11/5/2001 1000

Numbers courtesy fec.gov and tray.com.

That's a total of just over $19,000 that I was able to find without trying hard. That's a lot more money than the $2500 that they accuse Mitchell of accepting, and a lot more current, too.

That's just from donors that have been indicted or convicted, or in the case of Enron, operated by people that were indicted or convicted. It doesn't include money from clients or from spouses or aides, unless those aides were themselves indicted or convicted. It also doesn't include money funnelled through Native American tribes and other Abramoff clients. If it did, the total would be well in excess of $100,000.

JD has supposedly donated the contributions that went directly from Jack Abramoff to charity, but that still puts him over $14,000 ahead of Harry.

JD's not talking about that, though.

The campaign press release does talk about a demand. It demands that Harry issue an apology.

JD's good at that.

Not at apologizing. Oh no, not our JD.

Demanding that others apologize, that is.

I did a quick Google search (parameters "Hayworth apology") and found that he's demanded...

...that President Bush apologize to the Minutemen for referring to them as "vigilantes"...

...that the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. apologize for saying something nice about Yasser Arafat...

...that former President Clinton's Press Secretary Joe Lockhart should apologize and resign for offending the Southern Baptist Convention...

Couldn't find a reference to an apology that he's issued, though.

Must be nice to be perfect when no one else is.

Note: if someone has a link to an apology issued by Congressman Hayworth for his own behavior or words, send it to me and I'll be happy to update this post.

In the final paragraph of the press release, the Hayworth campaign accuses Harry Mitchell and his campaign of trying to "smear Congressman Hayworth's reputation."

I have news for him, and them.

JD didn't need any help in that area - his own corruption, bigotry, and hypocrisy have smeared his reputation beyond repair.