Tim Holden’s hard-hitting ad, blasting Matt Cartwright for contributing to the campaigns of the ‘Kids for Cash’ judges, has the PA-17 challenger playing defense. In a new commercial released today, the Lackawanna County attorney fights back against the implication of a connection between him and the scandal.
“Tim Holden is trying to smear Matt Cartwright’s reputation,” says a narrator against a screenshot of the Holden ad. “The truth: Matt and Marion’s law firm supported dozens of Democrats. And during the ‘Kids for Cash’ scandal, Matt Cartwright spearheaded the effort to make sure juveniles were treated fairly.”
“I hate negative campaign ads,” Cartwright says to the camera. “There’s no reason to sling mud at people.”
The rebuttal ad will be 100 percent of Cartwright’s TV presence on Thursday, and will move into the rotation on Friday.
News of the scandal, in which two Luzerne County judges sentenced juvenile defendants to private detention facilities in exchange for cash, broke in 2007. Cartwright and his firm most recently contributed to them in 2005.
Holden’s camp characterized Cartwright’s post-scandal efforts as window dressing.
“If I knew that me and my firm had given thousands of dollars to these crooked judges, I would try to save face, too,” said campaign manager Eric Nagy.
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6 Responses
Gerry, you mention three names, none of whom were personal injury lawyers. Arlen Spector was in the Philly DA’s Office before entering the political ranks. Santorum worked for conservative corporate firms (K&L and others). Casey (Senior) worked for a conservative defense firm as well. If you don’t know the difference between an ambulance chaser and the rest of the legal profession, you should keep your opinions to yourself.
“me & my firm”……..someone needs a grammer coach………….wouldn’t want that from my campaign manager!
Jack, you have mentioned NEPA and personal injury lawyers a couple of times now. I would just like to mention a few names for you Spector, Santorum and Casey. All from different parts of PA all the names of personal injury lawyers or the client of personal injury lawyers.
TNardi, it shows that Cartwright took a break from chasing ambulances and suing people who actually work for a living to make an equally misleading ad. Why do they love personal injury lawyers so much in NEPA?
That’s a pretty epic ad. You know what it also shows? Cartwright’s people were anticipating Holden to go negative, and probably anticipating him to go negative in this way.
Point, Team Cartwright.
Very effective ad. It will ensure (as I suspected all along) that Holden’s absurd ad will backfire.