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We continue to be saddened by the tone of the Republican primary race for the District 30 seat in the state legislature and the back-and-forth allegations and meddling by influences outside of the district.
Our preference in the race is Jonathan Mason, who has managed campaigns for several local candidates. His opponent is East Ridge Councilwoman Esther Helton.
The most recent example of dirty politics into the race is a mailer sent to district voters by the political action committee of state Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin, who wants to become speaker of the house in the next legislative session and as such wants to elicit promises for votes from as many current and legislative hopefuls as possible.
On one side, it portrays Mason, who works for Unum, holding a digitally altered sign that says "I [heart] big insurance companies." On the other, it portrays a darkly shaded Mason - many recipients believed the PAC was trying to portray the candidate as black - holding a digitally altered sign showing increasing Chattanooga health insurance costs.
This is the lowest kind of scurrilous politics and is mindful of the embarrassing claims daily being issued by gubernatorial candidates U.S. Rep. Diane Black and businessman Randy Boyd, and of the kind that were issued by U.S Rep. Chuck Fleischmann in his 2014 campaign and nearly got him beaten.
Mason has attempted to use Helton's voting record against her and has erected signs saying she voted for Democrat President Barack Obama twice. He said she admitted as much at a Republican women's group meeting earlier this year.
Her Hamilton County Election Commission voting record since 1994 shows nine votes in Republican primaries, in races where specific ballots could be selected, and four for Democrats. According to our reading of the voting history, she requested a Democratic ballot in the February 2008 "state primary," which included a presidential preference vote, and a Democratic ballot in the March 2012 "presidential primary," which also included votes for county mayor, county assessor of property and a Hamilton County commission seat.
Whether she voted for Obama in either of those races (or another Democratic candidate in 2008), or in the subsequent November general elections, where no party preference is given, cannot be known.
Our preference for Mason turns on his residence in the growing portion of the county, his better understanding of the issues facing the state and in Helton's failure to appear at several district forums - she always had another engagement - where she could answer voter questions.