By james art BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – The two may have been friends back in the day, but a new attack ad in the East Baton Rouge Parish mayoral-presidential race makes it clear that the gloves are off and that friendship has fallen apart.
Incumbent Sharon Weston-Broom released a new 60-second campaign ad on Wednesday, featuring unflattering and secretly recorded audio of her opponent Ted James talking to a woman during a nearly hour-long conversation.
The James campaign claims the woman James spoke with was Broome’s campaign manager, ME Cormier. Broome won’t say whether it was Cormier or not, only saying the man was “brave” to submit the audio.
The Ted James campaign claimed the audio had been “sliced, diced and transformed” to create “a message not even close to the speaker’s intent”.
Broome and James were once close political allies, with him serving as her campaign co-chair during her first run for mayor. Both are Democrats.
In the recording, James calls himself a “woke MAGA (Make America Great Again) man” and talks about taking advantage of the way a white man treats someone who is black.
“Honestly, a white man, a white man, if he knows he has to deal with a black person, he’d rather deal with another man than a woman,” James is heard saying in the ad released by Broome’s campaign. “It’s getting (expletive) up. I can take advantage of that,” he is heard saying. The ad also claimed that James only began supporting the incorporation of the city of St. George “in exchange for campaign cash.”
The James campaign was quick to respond, threatening a defamation lawsuit and saying Broome’s campaign had “sunk to a new low”.
“Do you really believe that Ted James had a conversation with ME Cormier where he announced that he was a sexist MAGA man?” said a spokesperson for James. “Of course not. This is what the death throes of a desperate politician look like now that the polls show us in a strong lead.”
James’ campaign spokesman said the “Woke up MAGA” comment was a joke James made during the campaign in direct response to Broome’s claim that he was bribed by Republicans to change his position on St. George.
“Also, the comment about a ‘white man’ dealing with ‘another man’ and not a woman,” as you know, Mr. James is repeating one of the horrifying things he heard on the trail, in an attempt to moderate the exchange,” the James campaign said.
Broome defended the ad during an interview with WAFB on Wednesday afternoon. “When I heard the audio, I was very disturbed by the mood and tone of Ted James,” Broome said. “Here in Baton Rouge, I believe there is no place for sexism or misogyny, and the fact that he would suggest that black women can’t work with other people is quite offensive to me.” I believe the audio says a lot about his character. You cannot be one way in public and be another way behind closed doors.
Broome’s campaign says it hasn’t been changed and has provided WAFB with a transcript of what they claim was said in full.
EM Cormier did not respond to a message from WAFB for comment on whether she was the person who secretly recorded Ted James. Broome’s attack ad was released two days after the release of a poll that showed James potentially narrowly leading the race, with 29 percent of the vote compared to Broome’s 28 percent.
Broome’s attack ad was released two days after the release of a poll that showed James potentially narrowly leading the race, with 29 percent of the vote compared to Broome’s 28 percent.
Republican Sid Edwards is third with 22 percent, according to poll sponsor FuturePAC. FuturePAC is the political action committee of the Baton Rouge Regional Chamber.
The Broome campaign released what it says is a transcript of the conversation Ted James had with the woman:
Ted James: “Because they’ve already seen what they’re going to get with her and there’s nothing in the center. No traffic on DPW. It’s, it’s inaction… It’s, there’s a lot of turnover here in her office and a lot of them are willing to take a chance on me and quite frankly… It’s screwed up. A white man, if he knows he has to deal with someone black, would rather deal with another man than a woman, that’s screwed. It’s screwed. And honestly, I could use it right now. And that won’t change in four years. It won’t change in eight years. Woman: I know that. “
Ted James: And the funny thing is, I’m arguing about this in regards to Kamala Harris, right? It’s like I’m arguing about it because she’s my personal friend. She is getting the same right now. The same as even people in our party, they, she, if they don’t care about Joe, they just don’t want her to be president because she’s a black woman, I get it, I get it.
Ted James: Speaking for myself, I’m not going to dive down that road because people have given you gifts that you don’t always agree with. I’ve had people donate to me which I don’t always agree with and I don’t want to confuse the voters if some of you hate Eddie Response so much? Great, Davante Lewis is going to support me, so I have MAGA and LGBT as what I’m bringing together, so you can’t say I’m Trump’s guy. I have the first openly gay black man as an elected official supporting me. I can’t be both, can I? I can’t be awake and MAGA, can I? And they say everything about me. I am awake and MAGA. I am an awakened MAGA person.”
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