GOP unnerved by Democrats' candid camera techniques
His Wadsworth, Ohio, home is the subject of a 49-second video, which pans from a view of the mailbox on the left side of the house to the shrubbery on the right and then back and forth several times before cutting off.
“I think that goes a little too far,” said Renacci, who noted that his son told him he had seen the clip on YouTube.
Trackers assigned to California GOP candidate Ricky Gill, a highly touted challenger to Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney, pushed the edge of the envelope even further.
In May, a clip of Gill’s parents’ Lodi, Calif., mansion appeared online. The one-minute video shows the front of the huge home, a gated fence and vast front yard. The next month brought a three-minute video that begins by slowly passing by Gill’s home, with a cameraman overheard saying, “This is the house that he’s been registered to vote in since 2005.”
About one minute in, the video shifts to the University of California-Berkeley, campus, where the 25-year-old Gill recently finished studying law. The tracker waits in a hallway where Gill soon appears. As the candidate walks outside, the tracker follows in clandestine pursuit.
Gill declined to speak for this story. But a spokesman said, “I think anyone who sees pictures of their family’s home posted on the Internet would be a little concerned. … We would never post a picture of our opponent’s home on the Internet. We would never do that.”
Republicans aren’t exactly innocent naifs when it comes to campaign tracking. The GOP hit political gold in 2010, when then-North Carolina Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge grabbed and yelled at several camera-wielding interns for the National Republican Congressional Committee who had stopped him on the street.
And on Tuesday, aides to Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop said they found a tracker working for his Republican opponent, Randy Altschuler, sitting outside the congressman’s Long Island, N.Y., home with a camera.
But Bishop’s campaign said it did not believe any footage of the home had been made public.
In an email, Paul Lindsay, an NRCC spokesman, wrote: “Our trackers serve as eyes and ears to hold Democrats accountable in public events and public spaces only. Anything beyond that would be a violation of our policy.”
Democrats, on the other hand, insist the videos are fair game — and are unapologetic about the hardball tactics.
GOP unnerved by Democrats' candid camera techniques - Alex Isenstadt - POLITICO.com
Moe Lane » Democrats reduced to hiding in bushes, posting creepy stalker videos.
His Wadsworth, Ohio, home is the subject of a 49-second video, which pans from a view of the mailbox on the left side of the house to the shrubbery on the right and then back and forth several times before cutting off.
“I think that goes a little too far,” said Renacci, who noted that his son told him he had seen the clip on YouTube.
Trackers assigned to California GOP candidate Ricky Gill, a highly touted challenger to Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney, pushed the edge of the envelope even further.
In May, a clip of Gill’s parents’ Lodi, Calif., mansion appeared online. The one-minute video shows the front of the huge home, a gated fence and vast front yard. The next month brought a three-minute video that begins by slowly passing by Gill’s home, with a cameraman overheard saying, “This is the house that he’s been registered to vote in since 2005.”
About one minute in, the video shifts to the University of California-Berkeley, campus, where the 25-year-old Gill recently finished studying law. The tracker waits in a hallway where Gill soon appears. As the candidate walks outside, the tracker follows in clandestine pursuit.
Gill declined to speak for this story. But a spokesman said, “I think anyone who sees pictures of their family’s home posted on the Internet would be a little concerned. … We would never post a picture of our opponent’s home on the Internet. We would never do that.”
Republicans aren’t exactly innocent naifs when it comes to campaign tracking. The GOP hit political gold in 2010, when then-North Carolina Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge grabbed and yelled at several camera-wielding interns for the National Republican Congressional Committee who had stopped him on the street.
And on Tuesday, aides to Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop said they found a tracker working for his Republican opponent, Randy Altschuler, sitting outside the congressman’s Long Island, N.Y., home with a camera.
But Bishop’s campaign said it did not believe any footage of the home had been made public.
In an email, Paul Lindsay, an NRCC spokesman, wrote: “Our trackers serve as eyes and ears to hold Democrats accountable in public events and public spaces only. Anything beyond that would be a violation of our policy.”
Democrats, on the other hand, insist the videos are fair game — and are unapologetic about the hardball tactics.
GOP unnerved by Democrats' candid camera techniques - Alex Isenstadt - POLITICO.com
Moe Lane » Democrats reduced to hiding in bushes, posting creepy stalker videos.