A coalition of women's groups and elected officials is denouncing advertising being run by supporters of Republican congressional candidate , who is running against Democrat in Tuesday's election.
In a conference call Thursday, Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, which works to elect pro-choice Democratic women, said, “We are here to talk directly to the women of California’s 36th Congressional District. Craig Huey and his friends have continued to dismiss and disrespect the women of this district.” She was joined on the call by NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park).
Schriock criticized a radio advertisement paid for by the political action committee The National Republican Trust as “one of the most blatantly sexist ads produced on [Huey’s] behalf.”
In a flier being distributed to voters in the district, Scott Wheeler, executive director of National Republican Trust, describes the message behind the advertisement:
"We have a 'girl next door voice' reading our ad attacking the pro-abortion Hahn even though this is a heavily weighted pro-abortion district. We want the pro-abortion voters that would certainly support the liberal Hahn to STAY HOME! By making the point that the ECONOMY and not abortion is the key issue, we can discourage Democrat voters and drive them away from the liberal Democrat candidate."
In response to Wheeler’s flier and to the advertisement itself, Schriock said, “Craig Huey’s allies are openly and specifically trying to suppress women’s votes because they know California women reject his extreme positions. The women of California’s 36th District are not dumb. Tea party radicals are doing everything they can to send Huey to Washington to have him be a foot soldier for their [anti-women agenda].”
In the few days left before the election, Schriock said members of many women’s organizations would be telephoning those on their mailing lists to urge Democratic women to vote.
“I’m telling women right now to show up, be heard, be counted and vote,” Schriock said.
On the conference call, Keenan too urged women to vote for Hahn.
“Huey is out of touch with the values of voters in CD36 and his latest radio ad smacks of desperation and distraction,” she said. “The more voters learn about his anti-choice views, the more unacceptable he becomes.”
Keenan added that the reason National Republican Trust claims in its latest advertisement that the abortion issue is “not relevant” is because California is a strongly pro-choice state.
“The bottom line,” Keenan said, “is that on Tuesday, the choice is between Janice Hahn, who will protect women’s privacy, or Craig Huey, who will deny women their privacy.”
Chu, who represents California's 32nd District, was in the middle of a judiciary hearing Thursday but managed to join the conference call briefly.
“Craig Huey does not support women and their issues," she said. "I’ve seen with my own eyes how House Republicans want Tea Party radicals like Huey. They’ve already defunded Planned Parenthood and cut social services.”
Chu added, “You’d think [the House Republicans] would focus on jobs and the economy but they have focused their first few acts on declaring war on women.” She cited several examples, including cutting Title X funding that provides reproductive health services such as breast and cervical cancer screenings to low-income and uninsured women, as well as the HR-3 anti-abortion bill.
“[Huey’s supporters] are trying to get women to stay home by saying their reproductive rights aren’t at stake,” said Chu. “But women need to turn out because their rights are being threatened.”
After the call, Schriock told Patch, “We have thousands of members in the district and we’re going to go talk to them and make sure they go out and vote for Janice Hahn on Tuesday and prevent another anti-choice Republican making it into Congress.”
The conference call comes the same day that the three Beach Cities fire departments—Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach—endorsed Hahn.
Hahn and Huey were the top two vote-getters in the May special election to fill former Rep. Jane Harman's vacated seat. The runoff election is scheduled for Tuesday.
