It's been revealed by the Star Ledger that the smear campaign against Jon Corzine has been led by Doug Forrester's campaign manager, Rick England. Forrester initially denied that he even knew about it:
Forrester said he was unaware of the details of a rumor Republicans have been circulating about Corzine: that the U.S. senator had a sexual relationship with one of his young female aides.
Riiiiighht. Then, one of the people who had been fed the smear spoke up:
In August, England spoke with Jim Schroeder, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Education Association, about the decision by the state's largest teachers union to endorse Corzine.
Schroeder, in an interview yesterday, said England "did tell me I was making a mistake" by endorsing Corzine. He said England relayed the rumor about Corzine and the staffer, saying reporters were investigating it and that resulting stories would embarrass the Democrat's supporters.
Gee...this sounds surprisingly like the enslimenment that's been spread on some other website. I wonder who they're working for...
Anyway, once Forrester was "made aware" of the fact that his campaign manager was leading the smear effort, he fired him:
But later in the day, Forrester, through his spokesman, condemned his own campaign manager, Rick England, for fueling that rumor.
Okay, so they didn't fire him, but they certainly didn't try to minimize his actions:
Sherry Sylvester, Forrester's campaign spokeswoman, said yesterday that England, in his view, "was simply giving a warning to a friend."
A warning based on a lie, perhaps - or does Sylvester have some evidence she'd like to present? By not firing his campaign manager, trivializing his smearmongering and hiring the same team that created the SwiftBoat ads, Doug Forrester has made crystal clear where his ethics lie - in the mud.
