Recalled governor says refusal to endorse Kinsley is 'nothing personal'
TREETON--Former Gov. Scott King Jr. (NAT) will not back his former lieutenant governor, Erica Kinsley, in the NAT primary election.
King announced Friday he is supporting Kinsley's opponent, businessman Dave Jandon (pronounced "YAN-den"), and called his former deputy "a mistake."
"Electing Erica Kinsley to a full term would be a mistake Monomi cannot afford," King said at a press conference in Treeton. "It's nothing personal, but Erica Kinsley is taking our state in the wrong direction.
"We need a new leader who will stand up for Monomi and build a stronger Monomi. That leader is Dave Jandon," King said.
The 45-year-old Jandon jumped into the race after Kinsley, who previously served as lieutenant governor until King was recalled by Monomi voters in April, assumed the governorship. Kinsley was widely criticized for her swift calls for King's resignation following allegations of corruption, which failed to produce indictments in both a federal investigation and an investigation by state Attorney General Ed Casey.
Kinsley, 35, has defended her actions, and told the Treeton Sun newspaper she "had no other alternative but to call for [King's] resignation."
Critics allege that Kinsley quickly called for King's resignation--and subsequently campaign for his removal from office--because she wanted to be governor and felt King's scandal would damage her political aspirations. Kinsley calls those allegations "unfounded."
"I did what was right for Scott King, what was right for me and the people of Monomi," she told the Sun. "I saw a governor that had lost all credibility; lost all trust, and I knew he needed to go. He wouldn't go willingly so we had to force him out.
"It was ugly, but I did what I had to do," Kinsley said.
Jandon argues it's Kinsley that has lost credibility.
"Erica Kinsley used the circumstances surrounding Scott King to her own advantage. She didn't want Scott King to ruin her chances at winning the governorship, so she figured the best and quickest way to get rid of Scott and his problems was for him to resign. And when he didn't resign, then she started siding with hard-line Conservatives and campaigned for him to be recalled.
"That shows how bad she wanted to be governor. She wanted it so bad, she was willing to throw her boss under the bus," Jandon told the Sun on Wednesday.
The race for governor seems to be centered around Kinsley's actions starting from the onset of allegations of corruption against Scott King up until the moment he was recalled. However, for Jandon, the race is about much more than the scandal that has engulfed the state's leadership for over a year.
"This isn't just about Scott King or Erica Kinsley. This race is about jobs, and putting people back to work, and getting our economy moving again. Erica Kinsley has no credibility. People don't trust her. They don't trust her as a leader. They don't trust her to bring jobs back to our state or to fix our economic climate. I'm a businessman. I have experience doing that. I know how to create jobs and how to protect them and how to foster a positive atmosphere for small businesses. I'm the only candidate in this race that can say that," Jandon told reporters outside a campaign stop in Monomi City Wednesday.
Kinsley told the GBC Thursday that Jandon is "using Scott King's misfortunes and this state's saga of unfortunate events" for his own gain.
"When bad things happen, and there's an unpleasant change of power in leadership, lots of people are lined up out the door to take your spot," Kinsley told the GBC. "They're ready to take your job and they say they can do a better job and they would have handled it differently. But they don't know what they'd do until they're in my shoes.
"Dave Jandon says he would have acted differently. He says he wouldn't have disavowed Scott King and that he would have supported the governor through this whole ordeal. But I wonder, if he was in my shoes, I wonder if he would really say that. I'm not sure he would have followed through with that. It's a lot easier to talk about what you'd do in a certain situation, until you're in that situation. You can say 'I'd do this' or 'I'd do that' but I think Dave Jandon probably would have done the same thing I did if he were in my situation," Kinsley said.
For Conservative candidate Rep. John Densy of Treeton, the bitter bickering on the NAT side is welcomed news, and is a frequent criticism of the two NAT candidates by Mr. Densy.
"While John Densy is working tirelessly to bring jobs to Monomi and fix our broken economy, Erica Kinsley and Dave Jandon are fighting with each other over the soap opera that played out in the previous administration. It's clear John Densy is actually focused on Monomi while the two Nationalist candidates are focused on their egos," spokeswoman Mary Patterson of the Densy campaign told the NPF.
Regardless of which Nationalist candidate wins the primary election, either Jandon or Kinsley will face an uphill battle against Densy. The six-term congressman from Treeton's northern suburbs leads handily in polls against both NAT candidates.
Both Jandon and Kinsley believe they can defy the polls and hold back Densy from winning. Jandon's counting on his history as a businessman, as well as the fact this is his first campaign for public office, to boost him over the longtime politician Densy.
Kinsley isn't afraid of Densy either.
"My message to the voters is that we have moved on from the Scott King nightmare that dogged our state for several months. We are now focused on bringing jobs back here to Monomi, fixing our education system, helping our environment, securing healthcare for seniors, and protecting our borders," Kinsley said
Then the newly-minted governor had one final word for Conservative opponent Densy:
"To John Densy, I say 'bring it on.'"
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