<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Courtesy of today's (September 3, 2014) Spokesman-Review.</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-------------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><h1 style="font-size: 28px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; clear: both; line-height: 1.2; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; overflow: visible !important;">AdWatch: Business group brands candidate a ‘liberal’</h1></div><div><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">BOISE – The harshest political ad on the air in Idaho’s governor’s race goes after Democratic candidate A.J. Balukoff, branding him a “liberal” and attempting to tie him to President Barack Obama.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Balukoff, a Boise businessman and longtime chairman of the Boise School Board, says the ad is full of “lies and distortions,” particularly for attempting to tie him to Obama – when he was a supporter of Mitt Romney for president.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, a business lobbying group, put out the ad as part of its independent campaign against Balukoff. The group maintains each of its claims is backed up by a citation to a news article or other source.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s a critical part of our mission to inform voters about the true positions of someone running for our highest office,” Alex LaBeau, IACI president, said in a statement. The ad is part of a multi-pronged campaign the group is running that also includes a website, <a href="http://LiberalAJ.com">LiberalAJ.com</a>, and mailers.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jim Weatherby, Boise State University professor emeritus and a longtime observer of Idaho politics, said, “That the first attack ad would include the words ‘liberal’ and ‘Obama’ doesn’t surprise me a bit. That’s a typical GOP attack line. It’s worked in the past.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Though people tend not to like negative advertising, Weatherby said, they do tend to be influenced by it. The ad shows a red “LIBERAL” stamp being smacked across Balukoff’s forehead, a term Weatherby said is something of a political “dirty word” in Idaho. “It’s just associated with big government and taxes and locking up public lands,” he said.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">IACI cites Balukoff’s support for an unsuccessful voter initiative in 2006 to increase school funding in Idaho by raising the sales tax to 6 percent as support for its “increased taxes” claim. But the Legislature that year, in a special session, raised the tax to 6 percent to fund property tax relief three months before the election; the initiative then failed. Idaho’s sales tax remains at 6 percent.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“To use that as validation for the absurd claim that A.J. Balukoff intends to raise taxes is quite a stretch,” said Balukoff’s campaign spokesman, Mike Lanza.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Weatherby said, “Is it over the top? Sure. But a lot of negative advertising is. Are there exaggerations? Yes. I mean, it’s a real stretch to tie a school board president to the president of the United States.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Weatherby said he’s not surprised that Otter is letting the business group run the attack ad, rather than dirtying his own hands. “That’s often the case, particularly for a candidate who is perceived to be in the lead,” he said.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Otter on Tuesday launched a feel-good ad of his own in southern Idaho, but it hasn’t yet started running up north.</span></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">-------------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Sing it, V-Peeps . . .</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>"I'm a Card-carrying, Bleeding Heart Liberal" </b>by Christine Lavin<br><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Card_Carrying_Bleeding_Heart_Liberal.mp3" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Songs/Card_Carrying_Bleeding_Heart_Liberal.mp3</a><br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just take a look at hist'ry's pages and you're gonna see:<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Your greatest friend down through ages, yep, was always me,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I fought for living wages in this nation of the free,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">'Cause I'm a Liberal.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Can't you tell?<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Capital L-I-B-E-R-A-L!</span><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Social Security is yours because I led the way,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">And I'll defend it come what may until it's A-okay,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I'll fight that fight for you although it takes 'til Judgment Day!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">'Cause I'm a Liberal.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Can't you tell?<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Capital L-I-B-E-R-A-L!</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Yes, Sir, a Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Yes, Ma'm, a Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Because We Real American Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERALS,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> In every state,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Made this country great!!!</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I brought a surplus to this country - not a deficit,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I brought prosperity with jobs, now let's return to it;<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I want to keep our Constitution, every bit of it!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Cause I'm a Liberal.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Can't you tell?<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Capital L-I-B-E-R-A-L!</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I fought defensive wars the sons of riches rarely fight,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">They mostly hide way back. behind their daddies' wealthy might,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I'm there with ordinary guys, the black, the brown, the white,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">'Cause I'm a Liberal.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Can't you tell?<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Capital L-I-B-E-R-A-L!</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Yes, Sir, a Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Yes, Ma'am, a Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Because We Real American Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERALS,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> In every state,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Made this country great!!!</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So, if you need a hand up, sister, brother, look my way,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You saw me lots of yesterdays and now I'm here today;<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">My leaders were the greatest, FDR and JFK<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">'Cause I'm a Liberal.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Can't you tell?<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Capital L-I-B-E-R-A-L!</span></p><p style="margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Yes, Sir, a Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Yes, Ma'am, a Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Because We Real American Card-Carrying<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> BLEEDING HEART LIBERALS,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> In every state,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Made this country great!!!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> In every state,<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Made this country great!!!<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> We made this country great!!!"</span></p></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jus' Another Intolerista Liberal Wacko Nutjob Loose in the Palouse Doing What Comes Natural</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>