Dem goes negative in ad for Oregon special House race

The gloves have officially come off in Oregon's special House race to replace former Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.).

Democrat Suzanne Bonamici, who polls show with a double-digit lead over Republican Rob Cornilles, joined the fray on Thursday with an ad portraying Cornilles as a hypocritical tax evader.

Bonamici's new hit dredges up reports that Cornilles's business, which he continually cites in promoting his job-creation record, briefly had an $83,000 federal tax lien placed against it. Cornilles chalked it up to bookkeeper error, and the lien was resolved within a few months.

"Fails to pay taxes, but attacks his opponent on taxes," says the narrator in the new Bonamici ad. "That's Rob Cornilles. One set of rules for himself, another for the rest of us."

Bonamici's campaign has placed a series of airtime buys in Portland for the four weeks left until the Jan. 31 election, totaling about $100,000, according to Smart Media Group.

Bonamici campaign manager Carol Butler, in a statement announcing the ad, accused Cornilles of being "the first candidate of the special election to go negative on television." That may technically be true — Bonamici's previous spots have been positive ads touting her work as a consumer protection attorney and a state lawmaker — but Cornilles certainly hasn't been alone in going negative.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, EMILY's List and Planned Parenthood have attacked Cornilles with ads designed to boost Bonamici's candidacy. But thee groups by law cannot coordinate with her campaign.

All told, Democratic and liberal groups have spent close to $1.5 million on Oregon's airwaves to undercut Cornilles.

Like Bonamici, Cornilles used his first ads of the campaign to introduce himself to voters — although noticeably absent were any references to his Republican affiliation in a district that leans heavily Democratic.

But on Tuesday, Cornilles put out an attack ad of his own, reportedly dropping $100,000 to juxtapose his private-sector experience with Bonamici's career as a liberal state lawmaker.

"Incredibly, Bonamici can't recall ever voting against a tax increase or fee hike, and she has no record of job creation," the Republican's ad states.

The election to replace Wu, who resigned in June amid a sex scandal, is being conducted entirely through mail-in ballots. Although special elections always attract outsize amounts of attention as both parties look for signs of their electoral fate in other races, the Oregon race has been somewhat upstaged by the chaotic race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Watch the ad:

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