The 1st District Infighting You Didn't Hear About

Progressives who, like me, are slightly dispirited by the nasty fighting going on between Representative Carnahan and Representative Clay in the 1st District Democratic Primary might be interested to know that the other side (the one that has no chance of winning whatsoever) has also been busy stabbing each other in the back in a nasty primary election between Republicans Martin Baker and Robyn Hamlin.

One caveat before I go further: most of the info I'll be posting is from "Gateway Grassrootser" Jen Ennenbach's blog and, as a general rule, you shouldn't believe anything Ennenbach says unless you have independent verification.  But Martin Baker is posting Ennenbach's blogs on his campaign facebook page, and if he takes her seriously, well then....

Anyway, here are the gory details.

First, the tea party got mad because Hamlin referred to Martin Baker as "the establishment candidate." Ennenbach responded by posting a screenshot from "Kill the Clairebear" Scott Boston and saying that Hamlin was not actually a Republican, but a Libertarian.   Baker was desperately trying to get Hamlin to debate, and according to Ennenbach, Hamlin responded by saying that Baker needed to pay his child support, a claim that Ennenbach disputes:

Baker, again, contacted Hamlin, seeking a response to which Hamlin not only stated that Baker would need thousands of dollars to promote the event, but that the money would be better spent by Baker dealing with his child support legal matters.

Ennenbach says Baker's ex-wife disputes the charges.  But she encouraged people to look it up on Casenet!  According to Ennenbach, Hamlin also brought up allegations of Baker not paying the rent:

But this isn’t the first time Hamlin has attempted to smear Baker, only to have it fly back in her face. In 2010, Hamlin accused Baker of defaulting on payments to his landlord. What actually happened? Baker had moved out of the property ahead of schedule and had to work out payments to the property owner. At question was whether the remaining rent was to come out of Baker’s security deposit, or if the deposit would be returned in full and he would issue remaining contracted payments on the due dates.
This issue was settled between Baker and his former landlord.

Ennenbach also claimed that Hamlin accepted an invitation to a debate, then retracted.  She claims that a Baker staffer has screenshots, although I haven't seen them.

Now at this point, you might think that Hamlin was the one engaging in all of the dirty tactics.  But Ennenbach being Ennenbach, she had to drag it down even further by posting a letter from a "friend" calling Hamlin a "sloppy, unkempt, bag lady:"

Here is what popped up in my inbox first thing this morning:
Has anyone in the GOP ever actually met Hamlin?
I’d like to say ‘not to be rude’… but… I’m actually all for being rude when it’s the best way to express what’s true – she looks like a friggin’ bag lady!
She & Martin both came to the After-Party tonight. Martin, as usual, was neat, clean & professional looking; she, looked like a sloppy, unkempt, bag lady.

Then, to top it off, Ennenbach wrote another post acting offended that Hamlin's campaign was deleting her facebook comments just because she used her blog to call Hamlin a "bag lady."  This prompted a response from Hamlin's campaign claiming that Ennenbach was deleting their comments.

So anyway, next time you get discouraged seeing Carnahan and Clay fighting over a Congressional seat, just remember that Republicans in the district are doing the same fighting over nothing.