Riveting story developing out in Oregon where Repubs were looking to pick up a US House seat…This kind of story makes it hard to be a Repub sometimes….Hypocrites are part of the reason, if not the main reason, we lost power, not only nationally but here in Arkansas as well…If you can’t tote the line on family values, you don’t need to be in politics, especially as a Repub…Needless to say I would much rather have to deal with a hardcore Democrat than to have a lying, abortion loving, sleeping with my ex-girlfriend Republican in office…
Several months ago, the ingredients were in place for Republicans to mount a serious challenge in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.
Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley announced her retirement in February, opening up the Salem-based district that President Bush carried in 2000 and 2004. Republican businessman Mike Erickson held Hooley to 54 percent of the vote in 2006, a strong showing for a first-time candidate in an otherwise devastating year for Republicans. Given his ability to self-finance a campaign, Erickson looked well-equipped to improve on his past performance.
But a series of developments stemming from a primary rival’s allegations that Erickson impregnated an ex-girlfriend and then paid for her abortion nearly a decade ago have raised serious questions about the viability of his candidacy. A front-page story in the Portland Oregonian on Monday featured a detailed interview with the ex-girlfriend (who gave the paper only her first name, Tawnya) that added credence to the past allegations and raised fresh questions about Erickson’s credibility.
Kevin Mannix, who lost to Erickson in the state’s May 20 primary, first publicly raised the allegations in a letter he mailed to Republican voters in the district one week before the election.
Erickson did not respond to the allegations for several days but later disputed parts of the story. Erickson told the Oregonian that he gave Tawnya money and drove her to see a doctor but did not know she was going to an abortion clinic. He also said he didn’t see her again after the incident.
But the ex-girlfriend’s detailed interview, corroborated by the newspaper through medical records and the accounts of two of her friends, conflicts with Erickson’s account in other ways. She said she was sobbing during the car ride to the clinic; Erickson insists she showed “no emotion.” And while Erickson said he never saw her again after the trip to the abortion clinic, she claims that Erickson later accompanied her on a vacation to Mexico.
She told the Oregonian she consented to the interview after she saw Erickson “completely lying about everything.”
While the initial controversy stemmed from whether Erickson, who is running as an opponent of abortion rights, was being hypocritical, the new details now raise more fundamental questions about whether he has been telling the truth.
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