THE OREGONIAN: CORNILLES USES EX-CONGRESSMAN DAVID WU TO SLAM BONAMICI IN NEW CAMPAIGN AD

By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian

Republican congressional candidate Rob Cornilles on Wednesday, for the first time in his TV advertising, sought to tie Democratic rival Suzanne Bonamici to former Oregon Congressman David Wu.

Cornilles had previously charged in debates and other appearances that Bonamici had helped politically protect Wu, a Democrat who had resigned from Oregon’s 1st District seat in August following a sex scandal.

Now, with less than week to go before Tuesday’s deadline for returning mail ballots in the special election to replace Wu in Oregon’s 1st Congressional District, Cornilles is bringing the theme to his TV advertising.

The new ad opens with an image of Bonamici speaking as Wu listens in the background, his campaign sign clearly visible.    Bonamici’s campaign had earlier said that the photo was taken in a previous year when several Democratic candidates held a rally before participating in a Beaverton civic parade.

“The same people who covered up for David Wu are now deceiving you about Rob Cornilles,” an announcer says in the ad, an apparent reference to the commercials that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Bonamici and other groups have run criticizing Cornilles.

The ad then goes on to criticize Bonamici for supporting tax increases while she was in the Oregon Legislature and to claim she doesn’t have a record of “job creation.”  Bonamici has acknowledged voting for several tax increases — which she said the state needed to do to preserve jobs and other services — but said she sponsored bills that helped bring more state loan aid and other investments to businesses to help them create jobs.

Republicans have repeatedly pointed out that Bonamici’s husband, Michael Simon, represented Wu and his campaign as an attorney, and that in 2004 Simon sought to dissuade The Oregonian from running an investigatory article disclosing that Wu was punished while a student at Stanford University after he sexually assaulted a former girlfriend.

Bonamici gave Wu a $250 donation during his 2010 reelection race and had once described him as a “family friend.”  But she has said during this campaign that she had no knowledge of the questions about his mental health that were raised by some of his staffers during the last weeks of the 2010 race.  And she said her husband, now a federal judge, has represented a lot of people and that she should be judged on her own record.

Here is the ad:

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2012/01/cornilles_uses_ex-congressman.html

CORNILLES CAMPAIGN RELEASES LATEST TV AD

BEAVERTON, OR - Today, the Cornilles for Congress campaign released new ad, titled “A Fresh Start. “The 30-second television spot, which is airing on Portland broadcast stations, points out that the same people who covered up for David Wu are now deceiving voters about Rob Cornilles.

The new ad also contrasts Suzanne Bonamici’s “no record of job creation” with Rob Cornilles’ experience of creating jobs for Oregonians. The ad says, “We need a fresh start.”

Transcript:

Announcer: The same people who covered up for David Wu are now
deceiving you about Rob Cornilles.

Video: “Covered up for David Wu” “Deceiving You” Source of Photo: Bonamici campaign website, 2007

Announcer: Because Suzanne Bonamici is wrong on the issues.

Announcer: She can’t recall ever voting against a tax increase or fee hike.

Video: Bonamici “can’t recall ever voting against a tax increase or fee hike” -The Oregonian, 12/19/11

Announcer: And she has no record of job creation.

Video: “No record of job creation” -Willamette Week, 12/14/11

Announcer: We need a fresh start.

Rob Cornilles: As the only job creator in this race, I’ll work for bipartisan solutions that create Oregon jobs. And I will protect Social Security and Medicare. I’m Rob Cornilles. I approve this message and ask for your vote.

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Rob Cornilles has spent his life building careers for others and understands the rigors of sustaining a successful business with productive employees. The company Rob founded in 1995 in the First Congressional District, Game Face, Inc., has placed more than 500 individuals into jobs and trained more than 30,000 professionals in how to achieve greater success. Game Face has created 60 jobs alone in Oregon’s First District. Rob is a member of the board of Special Olympics Oregon, Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation, Umpqua Bank, Oregon International Air Show, and the Oregon League of Minority Voters. He is married to Allison and both are native Oregonians, raised in Washington and Yamhill counties in the First Congressional District. Cornilles was the 2010 Republican nominee for the District.

Oregon’s First Congressional District stretches from downtown Portland to the Oregon Coast and encompasses all of Washington, Yamhill, Columbia and Clatsop counties, and part of Multnomah
County.