Politics in the race for the 51st District House of Delegates seat recently took a turn toward the irresponsible, and Paul Nichols deserves an apology.
Nichols, the Democratic contender in the 51st, was the focus of two recent mailers sent out by his opponent, Republican Rich Anderson.
The mailers show Nichols’ arrest record from a 2006 incident in North Carolina.
Together, these pieces of campaign propaganda play up the fact that Nichols and a friend were stopped for suspicion of a DWI, and that Nichols was arrested for “resist, delay, obstruct and assault on a
public official.”
What is left out is the fact that the charges were dropped, the record expunged, Nichols wasn’t driving and nobody was charged with a DWI that night.
And Nichols also says that he has witnesses who can confirm that he was the victim of police misconduct that night, rather than the perpetrator of a crime.
We can see where the Anderson campaign would think this 2006 arrest would be a powerful weapon against Nichols, but when it left off the truth and included only the sensation, it did a disservice to the
constituents of the 51st District.
Furthermore, and perhaps more disturbing, is the fact that the Anderson Campaign did not black out Nichols’ Social Security number, which is displayed on the arrest record.
Even if the Anderson campaign felt it necessary to launch this attack on Nichols, it should have at least had the decency and respect to keep Nichols’ personal information off two mailers that were sent
to many homes.
In this day of identity theft, that action reaches a new low. In fact, Nichols was forced to cancel credit cards because of the mailers.
These mailers are just another example of the depths to which politics has fallen, and they cross the line from mean-spirited into harmful.
Rich Anderson owes Paul Nichols an apology.
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