Hardcore v. Hardball in DeKalb
October 10, 2008 at 4:19 pm by Scott Henry in NewsWe’ve been hearing for several years that energetic state Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Dekalb, is a rough-and-tumble, down-and-dirty campaigner. Now that we’ve seen her latest flier, we know what people mean. It’s a case study in out-of-context innuendo. But if it proves to be effective, the lesson will be that anyone who aspires to elective office should stay away from blogging, mySpace and perhaps the Internet as a whole.
Chambers’ opponent is twentysomething Chris Huttman, a longtime Democratic activist better known to local Netizens by his blog name, Chris is Hardcore. Beginning in 2003, Huttman’s blog offered his own commentary on political happenings of the day, apparently intended for consumption by fellow political junkies. One might have taken issues with Huttman’s political outlook, but there was nothing offensive or outrageous about his site, which he dropped a couple years back.
So it was a surprise to learn from Chambers’ flier that “Chris frequently asked people to send photographs of themselves” and that “his commentary is peppered with vulgarity and crude references to body parts.”
Huttman, she says, “has been lurking around the internet.” Well, yeah, the guy’s a prominent local blogger. That’s like accusing a taxi driver of “lurking around streets and alleyways.”
On the flier is a distorted, close-up photo of some guy with a goatee, but it isn’t Huttman, and it doesn’t look like anything that would have appeared on his blog site, which typically didn’t use photos.
So I asked Chambers to explain how her flier could be viewed as anything other than highly misleading. Well, she didn’t exactly defend it on those grounds. Instead, she argued that it contained nothing blatantly untrue, although she provided no examples of the vulgarities she claims he used. She also admitted that the photo of the unidentified guy didn’t come from Huttman’s blog site, but maybe from his Flickr page – she couldn’t quite remember.
Also, Chambers offered a tutorial on campaign hit pieces. “You have to create an impact between the mailbox and the trash can,” she said. “If you do that, you have a successful flier. This is politics.”
Perhaps so, but it still seems a fairly sleazy move. Rather than take it lying down, however, Huttman has gone to the web with this response:
Jill Chambers, my Republican opponent in my current campaign for state House, decided to send a mail piece clearly intending to make this blog appear somehow sinister or otherwise inappropriate. I’m now bringing it back so the voters of the 81st District can judge it for themselves. Take a look around. Although many of the entries are a bit out-of-date, I hope you find at least some of them informative and/or entertaining.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:44 am
DeKalb County is a cesspool of corruption. Goes back forever, to Pat Jarvis, Syd Dorsey, John Evans, etc.
Charges against 11 people for ticket fixing…by court employees? Where is the oversight, the checks & balances?
Taxpayer money down the drain. No elected official in DeKlab gives a damn abot corruption. And georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker is a joke who would never go after corruption in the most Democratic county in the state.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2008/10/10/metrail.html
DEKALB COUNTY
Ticket-fixing probe leads to charges
A long-running investigation of allegations of ticket fixing by DeKalb County Recorders Court employees has led to charges against five court employees and six other people, a police spokesman said Thursday.
The case came to light in January when court employee Charlene Johnson was charged with accepting a bribe. Another person, Marlene Findley, was charged with conspiring to defraud the government, according to court records.
Police spokeswoman Keisha Williams said she did not have the names of others charged in the case. She said detectives plan to interview 15 more people.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Chris Huttman is a white male, but Chambers uses a photo of a black or latino male on the flyer?
Blatant, blatant race baiting by Jill Chambers.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
huh? That guy looks Mediterranean, maybe Greek or Italian? Sounds kinda racist to assume the picture is of a black or latino dude.
Maybe he’s just hung over from a night of hard core partying?
October 11th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
How ridiculous. Jill Chambers’ tactics are borne of desperation and, if not idiocy, then at least misjudgment. May her underhandedness turn the voters against her.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I have known Chris Huttman and his family for years — more years than I care to remember! He is a nice young man — smart, curious, talented, hard-working and committed to our political system. His family is one of the few exemplary families I know.
If I lived in Chris Huttman’s district, I would vote for him without hesitation.
Jill Chambers is beneath contempt. Unfortunately, she appears to have deep pockets — and in our political system, deep pockets often trump the truth and do the talking, even though it is trash-talking.
For more on Chambers, revealing who she really is take a look at: http://www.thecrier.net/articles/2008/10/09/front/chambers.txt
October 18th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I’ve lived in Chambers’ district for 6 years and have had the misfortune of having to suffer through her negative campaigning for 3 elections now. Her low brow, least common denominator brand of politics highlights the problem with our current state of politics. Rather than say much about her record or highlight the reasons for voting for her, she’d rather lob cheap and petty accusations at her opponents. The citizens of Dekalb deserve better.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I’ve known Chris off and on over the years. We were co-workers once. Chris is a good guy with amazing taste in music. The “hardcore” part of his name refers to “This is Hardcore” a brilliant record by the British pop band Pulp. And he’s had this nickname since he was in high school. This flier is so lame. REALLY LAME.