Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Mudders lead way in 6th District race Date: Sun, 1 Nov 92 20:06:09 EST Message-ID: \SE A;METROPOLITAN \SS (WS) \HD Mudders lead way in 6th District race \BY Lisa Clagett \CR CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE One candidate charged his opponent with misuse of legislative expense money. The other retaliated with accusations of a shady draft record. From there, it turned downright vicious. Charges and countercharges in Maryland's 6th Congressional District race so far have included lying, taxpayer rip-offs and providing contaminated water to tenants. "It's been a pretty muddy year all over and we're knee-deep in it in the 6th District," said Herbert Smith, a political science professor at Western Maryland College. This level of venom is new to voters in the largely rural district, which stretches from Frederick and Carroll counties west. Spirited campaigns were unusual in the past, when Rep. Beverly Byron and her husband before her held the seat and had relatively easy campaigns. The tone may have been set in the March primary, when Democratic state Delegate Tom Hattery used a series of attacks to unseat Mrs. Byron. Aides to Republican nominee Roscoe Bartlett openly acknowledge getting down and dirty early in the race after watching the Democratic primary. Bartlett press aide Jim Lafferty said the Republican launched a pre-emptive strike to avoid a "Pearl Harbor attack by Mr. Hattery later in the race." "We looked at Mr. Hattery's past races. He generally operated a low-key campaign until the last week or two before the election. We had to make sure he knew we wouldn't allow a sneak attack," Mr. Lafferty said. Not so, said Hattery press secretary Paul Rosencrantz. "It was unfortunate that the campaign became nasty, but when a candidate lies, you have to bang back," he said. This summer, Mr. Bartlett accused Mr. Hattery of padding his General Assembly food and lodging expenses and asked for the state prosecutor to investigate. Mr. Hattery was cleared. He struck back, accusing Mr. Bartlett of accepting government aid for his Frederick County farm, even though the Republican is a critic of federal farm subsidies. Mr. Bartlett said he had continued receiving subsidies that had been issued to the farm's previous owner and that he had not received any since 1989. Mr. Hattery then accused the 66-year-old Republican of lying when he said he was too young to have been drafted in World War II. Mr. Bartlett said later that by the time he turned 18, he was already enrolled in divinity school and had received a deferment. Mr. Bartlett has since accused the Democrat of breaking the law by failing to provide worker's compensation to five employees of Lomond Publications, Mr. Hattery's small publishing business in Mount Airy. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM