Karl Rove Protege Fuels Minnesota Congressional Contest; Blog Reveals Source of John Kline Drug Flyers, as Shown in FEC Records

A flyer mailed by the John Kline campaign to Minnesota voters was produced by a firm whose principal studied under Karl Rove, new Federal Election Commission records filed by the Rep. John Kline (R-MN) campaign on October 5, 2006 show. Kline is running against 9/11 whistleblower Coleen Rowley, a former FBI agent.

Lakeville, MN (PRWEB) October 16, 2006 -- A flyer mailed to Minnesota voters about legalizing recreational drugs was produced by a firm whose principal studied under Karl Rove, new Federal Election Commission records filed by the Rep. John Kline (R-MN) campaign on October 5, 2006 show.

The Website http://www.LakevilleDad.com exposed the link between the campaign flyers and the Rove protege.

Federal Election Commission filings show the Kline campaign made payments of $26,391.25 to Targeted Creative Communications, a GOP political consulting firm located in Alexandria, Va. Aaron Leibowitz, a principal at the agency, honed his political skills as an account executive for Karl Rove + Company where he learned strategy and how to design a direct mail campaign from Rove, now Bush’s chief political strategist. Leibowitz was chosen as a "Rising Star 2005" by the Web site Campaigns & Elections. Last year Republicans spent nearly $4 million with the firm.

The flyer was directed at a comment a volunteer for Kline's opponent made on a personal Web page three years before joining the campaign. According to Chuck Smith-Dewey, publisher of the LakevilleDad.com site, "the Kline brochure uses imagery and language that the volunteer never used. In fact, the volunteer's views were in line with the positions of such Republican icons as William F. Buckley, Jr. and former Reagan Secretary of State George Shultz.

"Kline had a political problem," Smith-Dewey said, "he's very financially-tied to a corrupt Republican leadership in Congress, and running against a woman who many view as a national hero. He had nothing to attack her with personally, so his professional 'hit team' looked at everyone associated her, all the way down the list to a fairly innocent musing made by a part-time volunteer on her campaign."

The flyer sent by his campaign did not discuss Kline's views on drugs, nor the views of his opponent, Coleen Rowley, who was featured as one of TIME magazine's Persons of the Year for her role as an FBI whistleblower following the 9/11 attacks. Rowley said "as a 24-year FBI agent who fought organized crime, I emphatically and unequivocally oppose legalization of all drugs, especially methamphetamine, heroin, and crack cocaine."

The original language used on the volunteer's Web site read in full: "If I could change only one policy in this country, I would decriminalize drug use. Regulate drugs the same way we regulate alcohol and tobacco. This one change would be a great economic stimulus, allow us to use the billions we throw away each year for the "war on drugs" more productively, and yank the funding out from organized crime. It's a no-brainer."

Kline's flyer featured syringes with a headline claiming "Legalizing drugs is the TOP PRIORITY for one of Coleen Rowley's key advisors." The flyer said the part-time volunteer "supports legalizing crack cocaine, heroin and meth. That's not just liberal. That's wacky," charging that the volunteer said "meth should be treated the same as a glass of wine." Later the flyer terms the volunteer as "a far left extremist whose kooky ideas are dangerous."

Of Rowley, the flyer said "After previously voting for John Kline, she is now embracing many wacky, extremely liberal ideas." Rowley had been a lifelong Republican before the attacks of 9/11. Weeks before the Iraq invasion she spoke out questioning the pre-war intelligence, warning that going to war in Iraq would prove counterproductive to fighting terrorism.

"This tactic is a typical Karl-Rove-type strategy," Smith-Dewey said. "These are the same tactics used against former Georgia Senator Max Cleland who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam -- the attack machine labeled him as 'unpatriotic."

Although the Kline flyer terms legalization of drugs as "wacky" and "extremely liberal", a search on Google proves the opposite to be true, said Smith-Dewey.

The Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, has promoted legalization as a cost-effective approach to the war on drugs since 1989. The state GOP Web site provides a link to the Cato Institute.

William F. Buckley, editor of the conservative magazine National Review, would legalize marijuana immediately, then study how far to go legalizing other drugs, according to CNN.com.

Reagan's former Secretary of State George Shultz surprised many by becoming the first prominent Republican to call for the legalization of recreational drugs. signing an advertisement in the New York Times in 1998, entitled "We believe the global war on drugs is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself."

The Kline flyer was one of a several targeting David Bailey, a part-time volunteer for Rowley. Another accused him of trying to "infiltrate" Kline's campaign and accused Rowley of using "dirty tricks" and said "she can't be trusted," calling the volunteer part of Rowley's "senior staff."

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