One vow each State Senate 5th candidate took during the 2006 election was to keep their comments and campaign advertising from going negative. Heard on the campaign trail repeatedly, Republican incumbent Lewis Entz promised to voters that his campaign wouldn’t use those tactics and Democratic challenger, Gail Schwartz, also pledged to run on her merits.The candidates were still fair game by the 527’s advertising attacks, but Entz and Schwartz kept their rivalry civil until just recently when someone on Entz’s campaign committee allegedly pushed the panic button.
A mass mailing approved and paid for by Entz’s campaign went negative: Schwartz was attacked as a millionaire from Aspen. It was a breach of a campaign promise–the Schwartz’s actually live in Snowmass Village in modest accommodations.
“That was by my committee, but I never saw it until I got it,” said Entz in a Pueblo Chieftain article. “It was sent out and I didn’t have any approval of it. It shouldn’t have been sent out, but it was. I never saw it until I got it in the mail. I guess I’m responsible for it then.”
Schwartz indicated that her campaign would stick to their positive message during the last week of the election cycle.
