Impersonating the NRA
Some West Virginia members of the National Rifle Association woke up Thursday to an orange postcard in their mailboxes, the same color the pro-gun organization sends out to announce candidates it has endorsed.
This card, however, was paid for by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Hiram Lewis’ campaign, telling voters of his past ‘A’ rating with the national group and work he has done for NRA candidates in the past.
The campaign mailing didn’t go over well with NRA leaders in suburban Virginia.
“It looks very similar to what we send,” said NRA spokeswoman Autumn Fogg. “It’s clearly an effort to mislead.”
May 7th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
I don’t know the facts on this guy–if he is an incumbent or a challenger. But I do know that the NRA endorses incumbents no matter what. You pretty much have to do something radically anti-2nd amendment to lose the NRA endorsement.
If the Lewis guy is indeed an A rated candidate by the NRA, then I think more power to him. The big difference is that he couldn’t say he was endorsed by the NRA and secondly, he had to pay for it himself instead of the NRA paying for the card (which they do for the endorsed candidate.)
The Lewis guy I’m sure had to guess who to send the cards to–as the NRA won’t release their mailing lists.
I’m a fan of the NRA–I like them nationally–and I like our local NRA guys here in Knoxville, but if a guy like Lewis is strong for the 2nd amendment, is it fair that other factors outside of his stand on 2nd amendment should leave a public impression that he is an enemy of the 2nd amendment?
Just some thoughts.