Saturday, August 05, 2006

Wright fires back at Republican Party leader

State Auditor candidate Mark Wright fired back at GOP Chairman Jared Craighead's letter to the party faithful urging to vote for anyone but Wright in Tuesday's primary election.

Wright said he had not said anything negative about his fellow candidates. Craighead's attack stems from Wrights' criticism of the way in which license fee offices are awarded. Wright was also one of a group of Republican representatives who put forth a reform plan for fee offices.

"It is my assertion that the true motivations behind Mr. CraigheadÂ’s remarks are the recent public policy disagreements I have had with Governor Blunt. For example, I am the only auditor candidate to release specific reform plans to audit the governorÂ’s political patronage system in regards to the awarding of state license offices; and also a plan to audit state government contracts for potential political patronage conflicts.

Political patronage permeates state government and costs tax payers millions of dollars per year. Under my watch these conflicts of interest will be exposed and the tax payers will stop being fleeced. Mr. Craighead should have the courage of his convictions to state that these are the specific reasons why he is encouraging Republicans to vote for anyone but me. Policy disagreements with your own governor should never lead to political retribution."



I have seen speculation in the comments of some Missouri blogs that Wright is committing political suicide by being so outspoken in his criticism of Blunt. That is not going to be the case, whether or not he wins the primary. Though Wright is a bit more outspoken about it than most, there are more than a few Republicans who are not pleased with the Blunt administration.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This Republican will express his displeasure with Blunt Jr. and Blunt Sr. by voting Wright for auditor and Kennetz for Congress.

http://kennetzforcongress.com/