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Title: Ted Cruz's election manager's 'mocking' House of Cards style radio ad 'contributed' to suicide of Missouri governor candidate
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Published: Mar 2, 2016
Author: Dailymail.com Reporter
Post Date: 2016-03-29 02:00:02 by lana
Keywords: None
Views: 725
Comments: 1
Ted Cruz's election manager's 'mocking' House of Cards style radio ad 'contributed' to suicide of Missouri governor candidate
Tom Schweich, a Republican candidate for governor of Missouri, killed himself on February 26 last year at his home in Clayton, St Louis His political mentor, former Senator John Danforth, has said Ted Cruz's campaign manager Jeff Roe contributed to his death Roe took responsibility for an advert that criticized Schweich's appearance and said he looked like the deputy sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show Mr Danforth spoke to Schweich two days before his death and said he was upset about the advert Roe has firmly rejected any responsibility for the suicide and police have not in any way assigned him with legal culpability for Schweich's death See more on the Republican primary at www.dailymail.co.uk/gopprimary
Published: 08:49 EST, 2 March 2016 | Updated: 10:38 EST, 2 March 2016
Tom Schweich, a Republican candidate for governor, killed himself on February 26 at his home in Clayton, St Louis
Ted Cruz's campaign manager contributed to the death of Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich, it has been claimed.
Schweich's political mentor, former Senator John Danforth, has said Jeff Roe must shoulder some of the blame for his death last year.
He also questioned Cruz's decision to employ Roe as a senior strategist in his election campaign.
Roe has firmly rejected any responsibility for the suicide and police have not in any way assigned him with legal culpability for Schweich's death.
Schweich, a Republican candidate for governor, killed himself on February 26 at his home in Clayton, St Louis.
A year ago, Roe was working for Catherine Hanaway, who was Schweich's leading primary opponent.
The race quickly turned ugly when one of Hanaway's supporters, John Hancock, started telling people Schweich was Jewish.
He was in fact Episcopalian, though of Jewish ancestry.
Schweich suspected Hanaway's allies had started an anti-Semitic whisper campaign against him - a prospect he found deeply disturbing, according to reports from local and national publications.
Jeff Roe, Ted Cruz's campaign manager, has firmly rejected any responsibility for the suicide and police have not in any way assigned him with legal culpability for Schweich's death
RELATED ARTICLES HOUSE OF CARDS STYLE RADIO AD TRANSCRIPT IN FULL
+4 Deputy sheriff of Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show
'Elections have consequences. Tom Schweich, like him? No. Is he a weak candidate for governor? Absolutely, just look at him. He could be easily confused for the deputy sheriff of Mayberry.
But, more importantly, he can be manipulated. That's why Sen. Claire McCaskill and Pres. Obama enlisted my help to meddle in another Republican primary with Schweich as our pawn. Schweich and McCaskill are tied at the hip. Schweich even gave money to McCaskill's campaign.
Schweich is an obviously weaker opponent against Democrat Chris Koster. Once Schweich obtains the Republican nomination, we will quickly squash him like a bug that he is and put our candidate, Chris Koster in the governor's mansion.' . This was followed by a radio advert, for which Roe took responsibility, that criticized Schweich's physical appearance and said he looked like the deputy sheriff [Barney Fife] in The Andy Griffith Show.
It also said his opponents would 'squash him like the little bug that he is' - the ad was read in voice of Frank Underwood, a politician who is not afraid to get his hands dirty in fictional series, House of Cards.
Speaking to the Daily Beast, Mr Danforth said that had a profound impact on him.
He said: 'I talked to Tom two days before he shot himself and he was terribly upset. He was upset about two things.
'One was the radio commercial that was being run making fun of his physical appearance.
'But even more, he was upset about what I would call a fishing expedition in the waters of anti-Semitism.'
A few months after the suicide, Roe told The Kansas City Star that the death had saddened him and he defended the advert.
He said: 'I live in the windshield. I don't live in the rearview mirror.'
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Roe declined to give additional comment on any allegations of culpability surrounding Schweich's death.
Mr Danforth also pointed out Roe's high-profile losses in a number of statewide races, while acknowledging he has had some success.
This included a resounding defeat in Jackson County, where he led a $1 million effort in 2013 to hike sales taxes. Fewer than 14 per cent of voters ended up backing that.
Other statewide losses include Sarah Steelman's defeat in the 2008 gubernatorial primary, Brad Lager's 2008 general election bid for treasurer, and Bill Stouffer's campaign in the 2012 Republican primary for secretary of state.
Roe was also one of the first local operatives to tail opponents with camera-wielding trackers and, a decade ago, to investigate the social media pages of candidates and their children.
Political ad from 2015 compared Tom Schweich to Barney Fife
Mr Danforth questioned Cruz's decision to employ him as a senior strategist in his election campaign
Schweich thanks family for love and support in 2015
Read more: Missouri Suicide Haunts Ted Cruz Campaign - The Daily Beast
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Meh, I don't find Danforth very credible. And this guy was a loose cannon, very nervous. He thought he'd paid his dues and he was entitled to run unopposed for governor. Well, that's rarely true.
I don't think he looked that much like Don Knotts.
Here is the radio ad they ran against him.
If you can't handle some namecalling, you don't belong in American politics. Because someone will always try to chip away your support with namecalling.
If this is all it took to get this guy to off himself, clearly he didn't belong in the rough and tumble world of being a state governor. Most likely, he killed himself following many years of private suicidal ideation.
Schweich's spokesman (as auditor and for his campaign) killed himself a few days later.
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