Tradition has it that if one is going to play the big emotional card - abortion - in a political race, it is done late.
Second Congressional candidate Enid Greene Waldholtz played that card over the weekend, and did it unfairly, according to Independent candidate Merrill Cook.Waldholtz's campaign, in a letter and direct-mail piece, said Cook is "pro-abortion."
Outside of Waldholtz's campaign, Utah Eagle Forum - a conservative, family-value group - took out a full-page ad in Sunday's Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune saying the same thing.
"In the lowest campaign maneuver yet, Enid Waldholtz has decided to lie about her opponents position on the most sensitive issue in Utah - abortion," says Cook.
Cook says he is pro-life, not pro-abortion or pro-choice. However, he says during his governor's race two years ago he did say that he supported the law as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court and didn't want to waste any more money appealing clearly unconstitutional abortion law.
He says his stand is "as far as I can tell like that of (GOP) Gov. (Mike) Leavitt's, since the governor has stopped the appeals" on Utah's 1991 abortion law.
Cook says Waldholtz knows this and is purposely misstating his stands on abortion for political benefit.
But Mike Levy of Waldholtz's campaign says, "We just took Merrill's own words (as reported in the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune). If Merrill is upset, he should only be upset at himself."
Waldholtz said that three weeks ago, an ad by her campaign comparing abortion stands by the three candidates appeared in the Deseret News "and Merrill didn't complain then, he couldn't because they were his own words. And his own words show that he is not a strong pro-life supporter."
Besides Waldholtz's mailer, the campaign also sent out letters under the names of Barbara Smith and Elaine Cannon. Smith is a former president of the LDS Church's Relief Society, and Cannon is a former president of the church's Young Women's association. That letter, written by the Waldholtz campaign, said Waldholtz was the only pro-life candidate in the race and criticized Cook and Democratic Rep. Karen Shepherd's stands on abortion.
Camille Cook, Cook's wife, got into the action by saying, "I'm hurt and saddened that women with such high profile and positive name recognition in the community would not even take the time to call Merrill or me about his position before putting their signature on such a terrible lie. Merrill's parents are just devastated."
Cannon, contacted Monday morning, said Cook has been especially hard on her because she knows the Cook family personally. Through the Waldholtz campaign, Cannon and Smith released a statement saying they're sorry the Cooks are upset over the letter. "But I reaffirm that I stand by the statements (made in the letter)," said Cannon. "Merrill Cook has publicly stated his belief that this decision must be left to a woman and her doctor. That is the core of the pro-choice position," said Cannon in the statement.
As polling by the Deseret News/KSL published over the weekend shows, Cook is drawing more Republican votes from Waldholtz than he is drawing Democratic votes from Shepherd - and so Waldholtz's attempt to bring home traditional Republican votes is understandable.
Said Cook: "Our campaign has been honest and positive. We have done no negative ads and to have to respond to this now just makes me sick. But everyone has their limit, and Enid just pushed me over mine."