Redstate

By Ralph Kettell Posted in Archived — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Yesterday, Tom Allen was exposed by As Maine Goes for the most disingenous campaign maneuver to date in the entire 2008 election cycle (http://www.asmainegoes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54519). At a press conference held earlier this week, Allen introduced a "random" young Maine couple who were supportive of the first time homebuyer bill that he was sponsoring in Congress.

Apparently, the young man speaking at the press conference was no other than Mike Cuzzi, Tom Allen's campaign manager in 2006. The young woman, Heather Quinn, was no stranger to Allen either. She had served as his Finance Director for his Senate campaign and also had been Mike Michaud's campaign manager in 2006.

Now, the Allen campaign is claiming, per a spokesman, that Allen identified who Cuzzi and Quinn were at the press conference (http://www.politickerme.com/jessicaalaimo/1289/minor-controversy-calms-o...). Considering the original video omits this, Tom Allen either never identified them at the press conference or his campaign staff deliberately set out to deceive the Maine news media and the people of Maine.

Does the Allen campaign really expect Mainers to believe this new version of events? Even if Tom Allen did identify who Cuzzi and Quinn were, why did him and his campaign staff not inform the news media of that? Two TV stations ran stories on the press conference and neither even alluded to Cuzzi and Quinn's ties to Allen.

Take a look at this video on Channel 6:

There is no mention of their ties to Allen. In fact, Cuzzi and Quinn look like a nice, typical young couple who apparently just moved back to Maine.

The segment begins with the reporter saying, "After working in New Hampshire for a few years, Mike Cuzzi and Heather Quinn are back in Maine, looking to settle down." Obviously, Cuzzi and Quinn did not tell the reporter about their association with Allen.

But more shockingly, they told the reporter that they had worked in New Hampshire for a few years. Considering Cuzzi was Tom Allen's campaign manager in 2006, that is simply not possible, since he was living in Portland, ME at the time. Quinn too must have been living in Maine, since she was Mike Michaud's (D-ME) campaign manager in 2006. Interestingly, Cuzzi only recently moved to New Hampshire in February of 2007 to take a job with Barack Obama's campaign.

Here is a Story in the Politico about Obama staffing up in New Hampshire on Feb. 2, 2007 (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2582.html). Cuzzi is on the of the recent hires listed. Prior to that, Cuzzi was working as a senior policy adviser to Tom Allen, according to legistorm.com, a site that tracks the salaries paid to congressional aides and staffers (http://www.legistorm.com/person/Cuzzi_Michael_J/29032.html).

THE FACT IS THAT CUZZI LIVED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE FOR LESS THAN A YEAR!

It is sad that Tom Allen, his campaign, and Cuzzi and Quinn would stoop to such outright deceit and misinformation to get a couple of positive news stories. It is also sad that Tom Allen and his campaign think they can pull the wool over the eyes of Maine voters so easily.