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April 30, 2006

Dishonest Atkinson Campaigning to Christians?

This morning I received the following forwarded email from a Christian friend:

Hi Friends,

Many of you know I have been working with Christian / political causes over the past year and I am writing now to tell you about someone who can make a difference for Christ and Country in the season to come. I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Senator Jason Atkinson and his campaign for the republican nomination for Governor of Oregon. More important than "republican" or "democrat"--Jason is a rock solid CHRISTIAN, who is poised to take Oregon back for Christ! PLEASE take a look at his website and consider voting for Jason and spreading the word within your sphere of influence. Our Lord is a miracle worker! Join me in praying for a miracle--a Christian in the Governor's mansion!

Please do all you can to support him...first, by forwarding this email to every Christian in your address book. His poll numbers are skyrocketing and if you hear him speak, you will know why. A very recent poll shows Jason in the lead among the 3 Republican candidates. Watch him on TV TONIGHT and see for yourself. This is the man the Christian community should be supporting right now. Our God is not a God of compromise. It is our solemn duty to vote our values. Catch Jason on LIVE TV debating his fellow Republican opponents on KGW Northwest, News Channel 8 from 7-8pm.

Please call and email your friends regarding Jason Atkinson. www.atkinsonforgovernor.com

God Bless,
Wendi Watson

If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do? Psalm 11:3

I'm not publishing this here to make fun of Christians. Rather, I'm posting it because this email makes me wonder whether Jason Atkinson is making promises to the Christian community that he isn't sharing with the rest of us (such as the promise to "take Oregon back for Christ!"), and doing it in a way that appears to be a spontaneous letter sent by a Christian woman, fairly recently turned activist, to her friends.

Spontaneous email campaigns like this are, so far as I have ever seen, very rare. And as it turns out, this email is an inside job. Not only is the writing style that of a campaign hack, but the writer states that Atkinson's "poll numbers are skyrocketing" when none of the candidates or the media have published poll numbers. Additionally, the encouragement to "watch him on TV TONIGHT" and "catch Jason on LIVE TV" smacks of an insider-campaign.

But the dead giveaway that this piece comes from the Atkinson campaign itself is the fact that it comes from Wendi Watson. Wendi works as a public relations consultant for Spirit Media, a Christian campaign consulting firm. According to the firm's Web site:

Wendi comes to the team with more than 10 years experience in strategic public relations, marketing communications, speaker placement, and event production and she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communication. Wendi’s rich experience includes management of speaker programs for high technology clients such as Intel and National Semiconductor. Presently, Watson enjoys writing and giving specialized attention to a few pet clients. She believes her philosophy of “customer service-beyond expectation” keeps her clients happy and loyal.

Reading the letter, would the average Christian realize the email message they had received was a paid campaign piece, or would they have thought a fellow Christian had spontaneously sent them a personal endorsement (note her TEN YEARS of experience, not ONE)? I think the latter. But why doesn't the letter state who paid for it? Could it be that the plan here is to say Wendi wrote the letter out of the goodness of her heart? It will be interesting to see whether Atkinson reports having paid Sprit Media or list's Wendi's email as an in-kind campaign contribution.

Posted by Becky at April 30, 2006 11:40 AM

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