GREAT BEND, Kan. - Unfortunately, the first rule of politics is: "If you're behind in the polls, go negative." Wink Hartman is the clear front runner for the Republican nomination in the Fourth Congressional District, and rival Mike Pompeo has thrown the first ugly punch, blasting Hartman for having a second home in Florida.
Mike Pompeo
This might be an effective attack if it came from a lifetime Kansan. But coming from Pompeo, this attack crumbles. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and one the issue of who is more "authentically Kansan," Pompeo lives in a glass cathedral.
Pompeo was born and raised in California, attended college in New York, went to law school in Massachusetts, practiced law in Washington, D.C., and moved to Kansas for the first time in 1998, a dozen years ago. Why would a candidate with such a thin Kansas resume' launch an attack on which he has no credibility?
Republicans have always celebrated successful people, and made a point of not "punishing success." Wink Hartman has been very successful in business, and has a vacation home in Florida. So what? I thought Republicans looked up to those who have worked hard and been successful. If Wink Hartman has created enough jobs in Kansas that he can afford a vacation home in Colorado, or Florida, or whatever state, I say "More power to him."
In boxing, they tell boxers "don't lead with your chin." In other words, don't advertise your weakness. And Pompeo, by making his first attack on Hartman about Hartman not being a "true Kansan," is going to get knocked to the canvas by Wink.
I am a fifth generation resident of Western Kansas, and live in Great Bend, an oil boom town. The Hartmans have been creating jobs in Kansas for over a hundred years. Wink's father was a pioneer in the Kansas oil patch. And Wink continues the family tradition.
Wink was born in Wichita, attended public schools in Wichita Kansas, attended Wichita State University, and is as Kansan as you can get. The local knowledge that you gain from growing up in Kansas, and being raised by Kansans is immense. In Pompeo's dozen years in Kansas, there is no way he could possibly know as much about Kansas as Wink Hartman.
Raj GoyleI don't have a dog in this fight. I support Raj Goyle, who will be the Democratic candidate this fall. But the way Pompeo is turning this Republican primary into a mudslinging brawl, I don't know if the "last Republican standing" will have enough strength or party unity to defeat Raj Goyle.
The best way for a Democrat to get elected to anything in Kansas is to run against a Republican who has survived an ugly, bitter, fratricidal Republican primary. And right now things are looking good for a Democrat such as Goyle to go into the general election with a full warchest against a battered opponent.
Pompeo's campaign refers to Wink Hartman's Florida vacation home as "the Palm Beach cover up," apparently wanting to create class resentment against Wink for having a vacation home in a nice location. Pompeo's goons say this is about Hartman's veracity in claiming a homestead exemption in Florida. In fact, it's an attempt at class warfare. They want blue collar voters to punish Hartman for having a fancy vacation home.
The ironic thing is the "country club Republicans" in Wichita seem to be backing Pompeo, while Hartman has the street cred with the "dirty fingernail Republicans" who decide elections. Wink has always done his own thing, not belonging to all the "right clubs" and never having a house in the exclusive neighborhoods of Wichita.
Wink Hartman has run a clean campaign from day one. But now that he has been
maligned, he has every right to counter punch. And on the issue of who is more "Kansan," Pompeo not only lives in a glass house, we may find out he has a glass jaw. Stay tuned.
Post your own comment here