Congresswoman Calls Colleague's Campaign Ad 'Sexist'

Rep. Jay Burns (C-DES) should apologize to opponent for airing 'demeaning' ad, female colleague says

DEROSA, EDS--Congressman Jay Burns (C-DES), who is running for the House of Delegates, is coming under fire from a fellow colleague.

East Deschire congresswoman Debra Nate (NAT) criticized the Burns' ad, which attacks his NAT opponent, state senator Trish Potter (NAT) for membership in a "radical, anti-Grassadellan feminist group in the 1960s."

In an interview with local news media Wednesday, Rep. Nate called the ad "sexist" and "demeaning," and said Burns should apologize to Potter for the offensive 30-second ad.

"I think it's very demeaning. Just because someone's a feminist doesn't mean they're anti-Grassadellan or an anarchist," Nate said.

The ad refers to Potter's short-lived membership in the militant group "Feminists for Freedom." According to her campaign, Potter joined the group while in college at Deschire State University, but withdrew her membership after nine months because the group became "too combative."

"I liked the message they were advancing, but I just didn't like the way they were going about conveying that message. Fighting violence with violence is no way to resolve a conflict," Potter told the Berivian Herald newspaper.

Feminists for Freedom was popular during the 1960s but was heavily criticized for its controversial ideas and militant tactics. In one particular incident in 1967, a group of Feminists for Freedom members caused riots at a national football championship game in West Lake, Damoign, setting fire to team buses and storage units because the national league did not allow women to compete in the sport. Another controversial incident occurred in downtown Grassadella City in 1969, when a group of FF members protested topless from the roof of a downtown high-rise, holding signs that said, "If men can go shirtless, women can too."

Opponents of Trish Potter say her one-time affiliation with the group shows a lack of discretion. Congresswoman Nate dismisses that idea.

"This was almost forty years ago, and Trish did the right thing by leaving the group when it became evident they were too extreme," Nate said.

The Burns campaign has not officially commented to the press on the campaign ad. But a source close to the congressman, who represents Berivian's northeast suburbs, says Potter's membership in the Feminists for Freedom group is fair game.

"Any groups a candidate is associated with need to be revealed to the voters. They have a right to know that," the source, who asked not to be identified, told GNN.

Potter's campaign also has not commented on the ad.

Fulbright To Campaign For Casey In Armana

CNS Secretary of State facing tough re-election bid

WESTERNMYER, ARA--Armana Secretary of State Doug Casey (CNS) is hoping to ride the coattails of popular CNS senator and gubernatorial candidate Dale Fulbright.

Fulbright is expected to win over NAT opponent Lt. Gov. Ray Cognelli in next week's election. But Secretary Casey, who is facing a tough challenge from NAT candidate Mark Duggan, is not so secure in his bid for his first full term.

Duggan entered the race late at the urging of party officials. But his last-minute candidacy has put Casey on the defensive. Mr. Casey is a moderate conservative but he is struggling to gain support in this heavily-nationalist state.

Today, Casey's campaign announced the secretary will be appearing with Senator Fulbright at two campaign events over the next week. The first will come Thursday, where the senator will make a joint appearance with Casey at a campaign event in Westernmyer. The second appearance will happen next Monday in Burrowsdale, north of Maine City. The two will both spend election night together as well at the CNS party headquarters in Port Victoria.

Kelley Touts Progress On Transportation, Education

New campaign ads highlight governor's achievements

NORTH BERIVIAN, DES--With less than a week to go before the general election, the campaign of struggling incumbent governor Sharon Kelley (CNS) has released a series of new ads that highlight the governor's accomplishments since she took office one year ago.

Specifically, the ads focus on Kelley's work on transporation and education. One ad, entitled "Fast-Lane," hails Kelley's increase in spending on transportation projects. Another ad talks about Kelley's "commitment to smaller class sizes," and praises the governor's "dedication to [Deschire's] children."

A third ad released by the campaign commends the governor for capping property taxes.

"When Deschire families were struggling to make ends meet, Governor Kelley stood up to the spend-and-tax establishment, and worked with the legislature to cap property taxes," the narrator says.

Kelley's opponent, nationalist Lieutenant Governor Jake Kemp, has not yet released a counter-ad. But the Kemp campaign did talk with the media about the Kelley commercials. Spokesman Aaron Harson said that while Kelley takes credit for transportation projects and education and tax reform, little actual progress has been made on those issues.

"She talks a lot about transportation projects, when in reality she cut 30,000 low-income children from state healthcare rolls to fund those projects. That's not progress, that's abandonment," Harson said.

Kelley is trying to re-take the lead in the race for governor. Recent polls have consistently put her behind Kemp, with the latest poll conducted by WOAB-TV showing Kemp with 52% to Kelley's 48%. The margin of error in that race was 3 points.

Sonda To Be Released From Jail December 23

Former DES governor will be released four months early for good behavior

SANDERSON, DES--Former Deschire Governor Jane Sonda (NAT), who was impeached and later imprisoned for a corruption scandal that brought down several members of her administration, is slated to be released from jail nearly four months early on December 23rd.

Sonda went to jail back in April. She was originally sentenced to 13 months in a minimum-security facility northeast of Berivian. However, after applying in July, she was granted parole and will now be released December 23rd, just two days before Christmas.

A spokeswoman for the Sonda family says the former governor is "elated" she will be able to spend Christmas with her family. There is no word where the Sonda family will be celebrating the holiday, however.

Once out of jail, Sonda will be on probation for two years. She is also not allowed to leave the state for one year.

Latzo Will Not Face Charges For Drunken-Driving

District Attorney says there's not enough evidence

LORENZI, CAR--Carova's lieutenant governor, Carson Latzo (NAT), will not face drunken-driving charges for an incident that occurred in September, the Lichmond County District Attorney said Friday.

The incident happened back on September 26th, when Latzo was pulled over by a Lichmond County Sheriff's Deputy in Townsend, just east of Lorenzi. Latzo had apparently been attending a dinner party earlier in the evening.

According to police records, Latzo was pulled over at around 1:00 AM on the morning of September 26th for speeding. The officer on scene smelled the presence of alcohol, and then administered a sobriety test, which the officer says, Latzo failed. But when the officer (who has not been named by department officials), learned the driver was the lieutenant governor, he did not arrest him. Instead, he called a superior officer, who instructed him to call a designated driver and not report the incident.

Latzo acknowledges he was pulled over, but disputes that he was drunk. He also insists he did not ask for special treatment from police, a story the officer also backs up.

Up until this week, it was unclear if Latzo would be charged with drunken-driving. However, on Friday, Lichmond County Prosecuting Attorney Beth Mandley told the media there is not enough evidence to file charges against Latzo, in part because the Lichmond County Sheriff's Office has lost results from the sobriety test that was conducted on Mr. Latzo.

"At this point, due to the inadvertent loss of Mr. Latzo's sobriety test results by the Sheriff's Department, we cannot continue with prosecution against Mr. Latzo, and we will not pursue charges," Mandley said.

Latzo's lawyer, Peter Cambria, told reporters Friday has was "not surprised" the District Attorney was not pressing charges because "there was never any evidence to begin with." The lieutenant governor himself did not respond to requests for comment.

The Lichmond County Sheriff's Department, however, says it is still looking into the incident. Department spokesman John Coriff says the department is conducting an investigation to determine if any ethics rules or laws were broken by the superior officer who allegedly ordered the subordinate officer to not report the incident.

"We take these allegations very seriously. If any of our superior officers ordered a subordinate to not report something or to keep quiet about it, that is a violation of department policy and state law, and it will not be tolerated," Coriff said.

The internal investigation is currently being handled by the Carova State Police, to avoid a conflict of interest within the agency.

Meanwhile, political leaders and every-day citizens are enraged Latzo avoided charges, and are equally upset about the jumbled handling of the case by the Lichmond County Sheriff's Department.

"How on earth is it that the lieutenant governor of our state is given special treatment for a serious offense, and then the sheriff's department is too imcompetent to hang on to the evidence?" State Representative Jim Cubins (C-Port Bay) told the Lorenzi Daily News. "Carson Latzo should be charged with drunken-driving, and the officers who let him off the hook should be fired, and the imcompetent police who lost the evidence should be fired."

Carova Governor Dan McCrae's press secretary, Allan Richardson, said the governor had no comment on the case but would be speaking about it later this week.