Former Baltimore City State?s Attorney Stuart Simms has begun sending out negative mailers about his Democratic primary opponent for attorney general, Douglas Gansler.
The mailers paint Gansler, the Montgomery County State?s Attorney, as a media hound “more interested in getting his face on TV and mugging for the cameras than he is about prosecuting criminals.”
“Gansler?s been reprimanded by two high courts for misconduct for gabbing to the press about criminal cases and tainting potential jury pools,” the mailer states. “Gansler?s gift of gab could have put murderers back on the streets.”
The mailers end urging voters to “Vote No” to Doug Gansler.
In an interview with The Examiner, Gansler said the mailers are a “clear act of desperation.”
“Most people who know Stu Simms are surprised by this,” he said. “No one thought Simms would bring ?Karl Rove, Swift Boat? tactics to Maryland.”
Simms? campaign manager Larry Gibson acknowledged that the mailer is negative, but said voters deserve to know Gansler?s record.
“It?s an act of telling the truth,” he said of the mailer. “If anybody has crossed the line, it is him.”
At issue is the Maryland Court of Appeals? 2003 reprimand of Gansler for statements he made to the press concerning crimes that occurred in Montgomery County. One case cited by the court concerned a June 5, 2001, press conference to announce charges against Albert W. Cook Jr. for the murder of Sue Wen Stottsmeister. During the conference, Gansler said Cook?s confession was very detailed and suggested that the police had “apprehended the right person,” the Court of Appeals wrote.
Gansler said the court was politically motivated in its decision and angry that he had previously publicly criticized a Montgomery County judge. All he did, Gansler said, was read from police charging documents.
“Nobody really believes a public official couldn?t read a public document in a public setting,” Gansler said.
Gibson said Simms? campaign has been distributing the mailers because Gansler “has continued to say that he was right and the courts were wrong.” Simms wants Gansler to “stop his criticism of the courts,” Gibson said.
But Gansler said he believes the negative mailers will backfire.
“We?ve gotten calls from all over the state from people who were undecided and are now voting for me,” he said.
One e-mail, provided to The Examiner by the Gansler campaign, comes from Mark Cohen of Silver Spring.
“It leads me to reluctantly conclude that Stu Simms has nothing constructive to add to the AG debate,” Cohen wrote of the mailings.
