Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Breaking Campaign News: Oops Indeed!

Looks like the so-called "disputed" Allan Kittleman quote in the Team Howard Slate mailer was, in fact, properly sourced and completely accurate.  

In short, Kittleman said it.  Moreover, the Watson campaign and allies - contrary to claims otherwise - used the corrected story.

Based on the original Baltimore Examiner print article (dated 10/7/2006), it appears as though the Kittleman quote used in the now famous mailer (a JPG of which can be found here) was indeed 100% on point.  The quote language from both the original print article and the corrected article, which can be found online, is identical.  

The quote, as written by the Examiner Staff Writer, reads:

“ ‘I think that allowing people who are responsible, like teachers and principals, to carry concealed weapons would make individuals think twice about attacking someone,’ said Howard County state Senator Allan Kittleman, R-District 9.”

That sentence appears verbatim on one of the KittlemanFacts.com mailers, the one with the quote from a mother from Ellicott City who asked: "What was Allan Kittleman thinking?”  A picture of the piece appears at the end of this post.

The only difference between the original print article and the corrected online article exists not with Kittleman’s quote, but with the preamble leading into his remarks.  The mailer uses the language found in the online, corrected article that was published on October 7, 2006:

“At least one state senator said arming educators with guns in response to a string of national deadly school shootings is an idea worth considering.”


The original print article features a harder-charging lead-in paragraph:

“At least one state senator said teachers should start arming themselves with guns in schools to protect themselves and others from violent acts.”

The key point here is that, in both versions of the article, original and corrected, the Kittleman quote is the exact same.  And yes, the mailer used the corrected version.

This raises several questions…

1. Did the Kittleman campaign know that his quote was, in fact, accurate?  If so, when did they know this?  If they didn’t know, that is poor due diligence on their part.  If they did know, then why did they falsely accuse the Team Howard Slate of putting out misleading information? 

2. Does Kittleman still stand by his quote? If yes, why? If not, why not?

3.  Does Kittleman also stand by the position, appearing later in the same article, where he states that, “I am currently a supporter of reducing the restrictions on people who carry concealed weapons.” If yes, why? If not, why not?

4. Will the Kittleman campaign apologize to the voters of Howard County and/or the Team Howard Slate for stating, non-factually, that the quote in the mailer was inaccurate?
 
So there you have it.  The quote stands as yet another example of Senator Kittleman’s more conservative stances.  One that I am certain his campaign would rather not discuss, as it would add to the perception that some of his beliefs are out-of-step with the majority of Howard County voters.  Definitely not a topic they would like to touch during the same week fellow Republican and current GOP gubernatorial nominee Larry Hogan received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association.

A JPG version of the original print article can be found here: 


The quote from the corrected article can be found here, on the mailer:
 

Stay tuned, as more will follow.

6 comments:

  1. A quote from the Explore Howard article written by Amanda Yeager on this topic from September 24th:

    "The “false claims” Kittleman mentions are a reference to a quote attributed to him in a 2006 Washington Examiner article, in which he supposedly said he would support allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons at school. The reporter who wrote the article later said the quote was inaccurate, and had been changed by editors to juice up the story."

    I don't understand why you are blogging about this negative nonsense this late in the game? Do you think it's going to change anyone's vote or opinion on the matter at this point?

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/ellicott-city/ph-ho-cf-political-notebook-0925-story.html

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    1. Why am i blogging about it? Because the Kittleman campaign and others chose to make it an issue. The fact is that the quote itself did not change between the two versions, only the language preceding the quote. If Senator Kittleman would like to clarify his position regarding concealed weapons, he is more than welcome to do so.

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  2. You proved nothing other than (to my great disappointment) you are completely on board with misleading negative campaigning. Let me quote Amanda Yeager's article again,

    "The reporter who wrote the article later said the quote was inaccurate, and had been changed by editors to juice up the story."

    The entire premise of that article was (and is) completely untrue. For Watson to use this as the focal point of her entire campaign is sad.

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    1. Oh Heavens to Betsy and may the clutching of the pearls commence.

      The issue is that there was an original piece, and a corrected version. The original contained a harder hitting lead paragraph while the corrected one featured a more nuanced introduction.

      It stands to reason that if the Kittleman quote itself needed to be amended, it would have been changed for the corrected article. It was not. Therefore, one must assume that the quote obtained was indeed the quote that was uttered.

      The Watson campaign is talking about a whole range of issues and presenting practical, sensible ideas on how to improve the quality of life in Howard County. You should check out their website and their social media pages for further information.

      But if other folks want to keep bringing up incorrect information, well, that is something I might discuss on my blog.

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    2. 1. You are making alot of assumptions, and we all know what assuming does. Amanda Yeager reported that the reporter that wrote the article stated the quote was inaccurate. Are you claiming that Amanda Yeager is not telling the truth? Are you claiming that the reporter that wrote the story is not telling the truth? It sure seems like you are making one or both of those assumptions. I think it stands to reason that the editors of the Examiner created a quote, attributed it to Allan Kittleman, wrote a juicy article around the quote, published it, got called out on the fabrication, and tried to save face by slightly changing the article.

      2. I know the Watson campaign is about a wide range of issues, but that's because I follow local politics closely. For 95% of voters, the only things they know about the candidates is what they learn from the marketing done by the candidates. 100% of the mailers my family (and thousands of other voters) have received from Courtney Watson are negative attacks on Allan Kittleman. How does this educate the voters about Watson's ideas?

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    3. So it is clear that we can all agree that:
      1) the mailer language was based on information that was found in both versions of the story.
      2) Kittleman's A-rating from the NRA is troubling to many, many Howard County families.

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