If you want shady campaign tactics to stop, don’t let them work

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June 4, 2018

You probably have heard about the latest attack ad that is getting heavy play across the state of Alabama. The ad hits Attorney General Steve Marshall for having a cousin who works for the Poarch Creek Indians, and it makes the accusation that Marshall himself might be an Indian. Is the attack here that Marshall will not enforce the laws on an Indian reservation, where he has no jurisdiction? It’s nonsensical stupidity, but we have seen this before.

Highway 31 was a powerful group supporting Doug Jones' #ALSen campaign, but the super PAC's use of 'dark money' contradicts the Democratic Party's campaign finance reform agenda. https://t.co/YCliotyqlB #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/xv4ttWBh3I

— The Center for Public Integrity (@publicintegrity) February 20, 2018

Why this matters:

Let’s truly be honest about this: these ads work. Sen. Doug Jones is in Washington, partly because of Moore’s issues and partly because his backers hid their identities. Running down your opponent is nothing new, dirty money is nothing new, but this is next level stuff. Alabama Daily News has put a pretty solid takedown of Alice Martin’s campaign (or at least people linked to it) being behind this. This has to stop, the only way it stops is if you don’t allow the people who behave this way to win.

Listen to the interview here:

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