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Mayor-elect Hanks defends use of 'wing-nut' mailing
Both candidates had high-profile backers
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RAPID CITY — A day after topping city Alderman Sam Kooiker in the mayor’s race, state Rep. Alan Hanks defended his use of a hard-edged campaign mailing that labeled Kooiker a “wing-nut” tied to the ultra-right conservatives.
Hanks said he approved the mailing, which was received by more than 2,000 targeted Rapid City voters before Tuesday’s election, to counter attacks against him by Kooiker supporters in letters to the editor and, especially, on political Web logs. Those attacks included references to support from former state Sen. Stan Adelstein of Rapid City, a former legislative colleague and outspoken personal and financial supporter of Hanks.
“We were being savagely attacked in the blogs and letters to the editor about who my supporters were,” Hanks said Wednesday. “I thought it was very unfair. This letter was nothing more than a response in pointing out who Sam’s supporters were.”
The “supporter” issue cast a large shadow because of the involvement of Adelstein and state. Sen. Bill Napoli, a Kooiker supporter. Despite their Republican-party connections, Kooiker and Adelstein are personal and political adversaries with a bristly past and penchant for controversy.
Late in a campaign that Kooiker seemed to be leading, Adelstein and others in the Hanks camp labored to connect Kooiker to Napoli and others typically considered conservative Republicans. The one-fold flier sent out early this week was the most public of those campaign tactics.
The cover of the flier had a picture of a metal nut with wings attached and a headline that read: “There’s something you should know about Sam Kooiker.”
“Wing-nut” is a derogatory term commonly used in political discussions to describe extremists. Inside the flier, a two-page script called Hanks a moderate and Kooiker an “ultra-right conservative.” It tied Kooiker to the “religious right” and said former city Alderman Mike Schumacher — labeled a “far-right extremist” by the flier — was Kooiker’s “best friend on the city council.”
The script also noted that Kooiker’s supporters included Napoli, former city Alderman Rick Kriebel, former state Rep. Elizabeth Kraus Munro and Joel Schwiesow, whose wife, Elli, is a conservative Republican and unsuccessful state Senate candidate who defeated Adelstein in the 2006 primary but lost in the general election.
Contacted at his home Wednesday evening, Kooiker wasn’t inclined to rehash the race.
“I consider it water under the bridge. I ran a clean campaign. I believe it’s better to lose on the high road than win on the low road,” he said. “I’m not going to comment on the mailing itself, other than to say that my base of support is very wide and includes people from all across the spectrum.”
Napoli was willing to comment, however, and said the Hanks flier crossed a clear line into improper campaign tactics.
“I think it was probably in as poor of taste as anyone could do as far as negative politics,” he said. “I’m really sad that Hanks allowed that to happen.”
Hanks took full responsibility for the flier, which was sent under the name of the Moderate Leadership PAC he set up to allow for larger contributions in his campaign. But he challenged critics to point out anything untrue or improper in the flier.
“I was very adamant that it be factual, and they didn’t take any personal swipes at Sam,” Hanks said.
When asked if the term “wing-nut” was a personal swipe, Hanks said: “Well, you should go onto the blogs and see what I was being called. To be honest, that (wing-nut) was tame.”
Pressed further on whether “wing-nut” was a personal swipe, Hanks said: “No, I think I’ve answered that already. ... I think we were pointing out differences between Sam and myself.”
Hanks said friends and supporters in his campaign made a number of other suggestions about tough campaign tactics, many of which he rejected. Hired political consultant Jody Severson of Rapid City reviewed the “wing-nut” flier, but Hanks said he had ultimate responsibility for its use.
Napoli said Adelstein should take responsibility for the flier and other negative tactics against Kooiker. Napoli was referring to an election-night comment by Adelstein, reported by the Rapid City Weekly News, about the need to get tougher with Kooiker late in the campaign. Adelstein was quoted as saying: “Poor Alan, he wasn’t comfortable with what we had to do. But we had to do it.”
Napoli said that showed Hanks wasn’t in command of his own campaign.
“That pretty much means that for the next two years, Adelstein is going to run city hall,” Napoli said. “Alan can’t control his own campaign, and now, he can’t control City Hall. Stan’s going to do it for him.”
Hanks and Adelstein rejected that idea. Adelstein said he was “a friendly adviser” and contributor to Hanks. It was important for the connection between Kooiker and Napoli to be made public, Adelstein said.
Asked to categorize Kooiker’s political philosophy, Adelstein stopped short of what was stated in the “wing-nut” flier.
“I don’t know that I would call him a ‘wing-nut’ or a ‘right-wing-nut,’” Adelstein said. “I think he’s a fine young man. But his lack of experience and his acceptance of economic advice from Bill Napoli would have been a disaster for the city of Rapid City.”
Napoli said he was much less involved in helping Kooiker than Adelstein was in helping Hanks, and he denied any role as economic adviser to Kooiker. Despite his disgust at the “wing-nut” flier, Napoli downplayed its impact on the election.
“I think it had zero effect,” he said. “It made some people mad.”
Hanks agreed that the flier wasn’t the key to his win. He said voters elected him because of his greater experience in government and private enterprise and because of a few key issues where he and Kooiker differed. And he emphatically denied that Adelstein would be a looming influence in the mayor’s office.
“This is typical Bill Napoli. And he should know better.
Nobody pulls my strings,”
Hanks said. “I’m an independent thinker. The only people I’m accountable to are the voters and citizens of Rapid City.”
Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com
Mayor-elect Alan Hanks said he approved this mailing, shown as a scan of the original flier that was received by more than 2,000 targeted Rapid City voters before Tuesday’s election, to counter attacks Sam Kooiker supporters made against him. (Journal staff)
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