McHenry County Blog

Last night at 8:11 I emailed 8th congressional district Republican primary candidate Kirk Morris asking for its reaction to fellow GOP primary candidate Steve Greenberg’s saying that Morris’ campaign was spreading rumors about Greenberg or his companies having gone through bankruptcy.

This afternoon at 3:48, the answer arrived. It follows:


The Greenberg press release to Cal Skinner’s McHenry County Blog accuses the Morris campaign of spreading rumors. Morris campaign manager Peter Karlovics stated that he was not aware of anyone spreading rumors, and if they were, it would be against the Morris campaign's policy to run a positive campaign.

In response to the Greenberg press release, Karlovics noted that there were insufficient details in the press release as to who spread the rumors, where the rumors have come out, and how many people heard the rumors.

"If the Greenberg campaign wants to stop these supposed rumors, then I ask them to tell us who supposedly said them. If there is a confirmed incident of a Morris supporter spreading a rumor, I will make sure it stops. I hope this press release is an honest attempt by the Greenberg campaign to resolve an issue, and not some type of political ploy."

Bruno Behrend, Campaign Press Spokesperson, notes that the Greenberg's campaign has been laying the groundwork for a negative campaign of its own.

First, in the beginning of the campaign, Greenberg's campaign conducted a widespread negative push poll against Kirk Morris. The poll asked respondents if they would be likely to vote for Kirk Morris if they learned he had declared bankruptcy. (Morris' ex wife had died of alcoholism, and his ex-wife's addiction had bankrupted him).

More recently, the Greenberg campaign attacked Kirk Morris in a story in the Daily Herald. In an endorsement interview at the Daily Herald, Morris discussed his meeting with Guiliani, their discussions of border security and the establishment of electronic monitoring devices as a cheaper alternative to buildings walls and fences.

Morris had mistaken the Presidential candidate’s display of polite interest in the idea as Guiliani hearing the idea for the first time, and left the Daily Herald with the impression that he had an impact on Guiliani’s policy ideas.

In a follow-up, the Daily Herald asked about the misimpression, Kirk Morris apologized for any mistaken impression and moved on. He did meet with Mayor Guiliani, and they did discuss border security, as well as other issues. (The campaign produced a photo of the meeting to the Daily Herald.)

In the same Daily Herald article, Greenberg campaign manager Brad Goodman accused Morris of “lying” – a baseless charge.

Recently, Peter Karlovics, discussed his concern about both campaigns going negative with Brad Goodman. To this date, Goodman has refused to make a commitment to stay positive. He told Karlovics that “everything is on the table” and that “this is a big boy’s game.” The Morris campaign is asking the Greenberg campaign to make a public commitment to repudiate negative campaigning – as has been the Morris Campaign policy all along. To date, the Greenberg Campaign has refused to do so.

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Photo of Kirk Morris and Rudy Guiliani supplied by the Morris campaign.

Labels: 8th Congressional District, Kirk Morris, Steve Greenberg