Published: May 19, 2008 01:33 pm         

Campaign chairman issues comments

Hi, this is Doug Moore of WFRN. I’m the campaign chairman for Wes Culver for state representative. I want to do three things: Thank all of Wes’ supporters; thank John Ulmer for his public service; and clarify statements made in a letter that was written and sent out to many of you by Mr. Ulmer.

First, a big thanks to the many, many supporters of Wes Culver for state representative. According to the Indiana Associated Press, Wes Culver was the only Republican legislative challenger to win in the entire state of Indiana last week — out of 100 representative seats and 50 Senate seats — and Wes won by a margin of almost 3 to 1. That kind of support for Wes, and the issues he stands up for, is overwhelming and humbling.

Second, a big thanks to John Ulmer for serving in the state Legislature for the last 10 years. I’m sure Mr. Ulmer could have made a lot more money focusing solely on his law practice — but he chose to work part of the time for less, in public office. That is admirable.

Third, I want to address some omissions in a letter that Mr. Ulmer wrote and distributed widely in the final days of the primary campaign and to clarify comments published in this newspaper.

He wrote, “When I asked them (WFRN) to run my radio commercials, they agreed — took my money — and then turned around and ran editorial/public service announcements against my candidacy.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Ulmer completely omitted the fact that legally we had no choice to “agree” or “disagree” to take his money. We were legally obligated to take his money and run his spots.

It’s also important to note that we told him openly and forthrightly beforehand that if he exercised his legal right to run his spots — and presented himself to our listeners as a family values-type candidate — that we would exercise our legal right to run editorials informing our listeners of his historical voting record on the issue of abortion. WFRN families expect these types of facts from us, in order to make an informed vote for their family — and they deserve no less.

Mr. Ulmer claimed that we used “biased” score cards. The information we cited is from Indiana Right to Life, and is based directly upon the historical voting record of all Indiana legislators. They use the same objective rating system for all, and their only “bias” is to support laws that protect unborn children and pregnant mothers. It is completely unfounded for anyone to call into question the integrity of Indiana Right to Life. They are a highly credible blessing to the state of Indiana.

The editorial by WFRN was only on this single issue of pro-life voting history and in no way related to John Ulmer personally or in any other way. We stated that John Ulmer’s public statements were ìthe opposite of Ulmer’s voting history on the key issue of abortion. A study of his voting record shows that Ulmer has the most pro-abortion voting record of any Republican in the entire Indiana state Legislature.

— Doug Moore, WFRN, Elkhart