Monday, November 6, 2017

Cliff Hyra condemns opponents' name-calling

Calling himself the 'grown-up in the room,' Libertarian Cliff Hyra bashes Gillespie and Northam over harsh attack ads | Virginia Politics | richmond.com - Graham Moomaw, Richmond Times-Dispatch:

November 2, 2017 - "Libertarian Cliff Hyra wants Virginians to ignore the attack ads in the governor’s race featuring MS-13 gang members, pedophiles and neo-Nazis.... On Thursday, less than a week before Tuesday’s election, Hyra held a news conference at the state Capitol to emphasize his dismay over the 'wild-eyed accusations and divisive rhetoric' flying between Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam and their supporters.

"'I fear for the future of our commonwealth and of our nation [when] even the most staid candidates feel that they have to descend to this level of discourse ...' said Hyra, a 35-year-old Mechanicsville patent attorney who will appear on the ballot ... as the only third-party candidate for governor.... '“It’s unbelievable to me that I had to be the grown-up in the room, because these 60-year-old men, these establishment politicians, a sitting lieutenant governor and a (former) chairman of the Republican National Committee apparently think that the best strategy (for) getting elected to the highest position of the state is name-calling'.....

"Gillespie has invested heavily in ads attacking Northam as soft on the Latino street gang MS-13 because Northam voted against a ban on sanctuary cities earlier this year, even though no sanctuary cities exist in Virginia. Gillespie has also used the case of a convicted sex offender to bash Northam for supporting Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s expansive approach to restoring felons’ voting rights.

"Northam and the rest of the Democratic ticket put out a mailer linking Gillespie and President Donald Trump to the Tiki torch-carrying white supremacists who have rallied in Charlottesville, despite Gillespie’s repeated denunciations of the group. An outside group, the Latino Victory Fund, put out a video ad showing a pickup truck with a Confederate flag and Gillespie bumper sticker chasing down minority children....

"All of it, Hyra said, has distracted from real policy discussions that could better serve voters. He ticked off several of his own policy positions, which include legalizing marijuana and other criminal justice reforms, scrapping SOL testing, protecting property owners from eminent domain 'abuse,' opposing proposed pipelines, and cutting taxes and regulation.

"Hyra was not invited to participate in any of the three gubernatorial debates, and his poll numbers have reflected the limited ability of third-party candidates to break through.... He said he’d like to hit 10 percentage points, which would make it easier for Libertarians to get on the ballot in future elections."

Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/calling-himself-the-grown-up-in-the-room-libertarian-cliff/article_a40aae45-648b-56ae-99e2-943c37e6be31.html
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