Late-breaking third-party mailers and letters distributed to voters in House District 91 on Oct. 31 regarding independent candidate Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, of Friendship, were “lies and distortions,” according to the candidate.
Evangelos said these items were the first negative pieces directed at either side in his race against Rep. Ellen Winchenbach, R-Waldoboro. The two incumbents are running against each other in a new district comprised of Waldoboro, Friendship, Washington, and a portion of Union.
Winchenbach said she was not aware of either of the documents before they were distributed, and described the situation as “very upsetting.”
“I’ve run a positive campaign, I’ve never written anything negative about Jeff Evangelos in the newspaper or anything,” Winchenbach said.
One of the two pieces was a mailer paid for by Gordon Colby, of Waldoboro, which alleges Evangelos refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and encourages recipients to call Evangelos’s home telephone and ask him why.
“He doesn’t say it when he’s up at the state house,” Colby said Nov. 3.
“I’ve been told by several people, several other legislators,” Colby said. “I think that’s something important for the people in his district to know.”
Evangelos denies the allegation, saying he stands at attention for the national anthem and places his hand over his heart when he says the Pledge of Allegiance.
“I have a routine; I do the same thing every day,” Evangelos said.
In an email Nov. 1, Evangelos said “questioning my patriotism … is the lowest form of cowardice known.”
Winchenbach declined to comment on Evangelos’ practices regarding the pledge.
The other item, a flier handed out door to door, according to Evangelos, says Evangelos is “not what he says he is” – an independent – for voting “lock-step with Democrats” on a number of bills.
The flier states it was paid for and authorized by the Republican House Majority Fund, but Shawn Roderick, a staff assistant for the House Republican Majority Fund, said the attribution was a typo and the flier came from his organization.
Evangelos said he is certain at least three of the four votes listed on the flier are correct, but said the descriptions of the intent or reasoning behind his votes are mis-characterizations.
“It’s a distortion of my voting record intentionally done to mislead the public,” Evangelos said.
Evangelos said the timing of the distribution of these materials was “sinister” and Winchenbach should have been proactive to stop at least the flier, which was declared as an independent expenditure to the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.
Winchenbach said she has received a number of “hateful” emails in reference to the two documents sent out regarding Evangelos.
“I don’t think it was helpful to me one bit, for whatever reason it was sent out,” Winchenbach said. “I am against negative fliers. I am against all negative communications. I don’t like it, I detest it, I’ve tried to run a positive campaign, and I would never had sent out anything like that, ever.”
