https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7G_WA7kEO0
The fight is getting ugly and the campaign has officially gotten negative.
State Sen. Anthony Williams’ campaign is attacking ex-Councilman Jim Kenney over comments he made about policing back in 1997.
The remarks, which were unearthed back in February, came after a friend’s home had been burglarized.
“We now have discussions, ironically, about no longer allowing police officers to use pepper gas,” he told the Inquirer back then. “I mean, come on. You can’t use the flashlights, you can’t use the clubs on the head, you can’t shoot anybody. What’s next? Are we gonna hand them feather dusters?”
The Williams ad features a narrator reading Kenney’s comments over shots of various citizens.
“Words matter and so does every community in Philadelphia,” the narrator concludes.
Kenney’s Response
Kenney’s campaign is hitting back hard against the spot.
“Senator Williams’ divisive attack ad is nothing more than a desperate attempt to rescue a failing campaign by dividing the city of Philadelphia. Comments that Jim made nearly twenty years ago and which he has already repudiated do not reflect his strong record on police-community relations,” Communications Director Lauren Hitt said. “Now more than ever, Philadelphia needs a leader who will bring communities together, and Jim Kenney has the record, the vision and the unprecedented, diverse coalition of support to make that a reality in Philadelphia.”
They even got some of the groups and officials that support Kenney to attack the ad.
“Senator Williams attack ad is simply untrue,” State Rep. Dwight Evans stated. “Jim has said time and again police who use hate speech should be fired and that the city should end the practice of stop and frisk.”
2 Responses
Williams has just assured that the city is going to learn all about his three rich sugar daddies out in the suburbs. That ought to go over real well.
This ad means Williams’ camp has polling that says Kenney is in the lead by a statistically significant amount, and he’s doing it by winning a non-trivial amount of support in the black community.
There is one white kid in this ad, but this ad REALLY saying Jim Kenney is pro- cops beating black people.