Congressman Todd Tiahrt announced two new endorsements in his bid for the U.S. Senate but both endorsements did more than tout Tiahrt, both also hit Congressman Jerry Moran’s campaign with negative attacks and accusations.
On Friday, the Kansas State Rifle Association announced its endorsement for Tiahrt. But KSRA president Patricia Stoneking included in the organization’s endorsement announcement accusations of threats from Moran campaign manager and chief of staff, Todd Novascone. In an E-mail to KSRA members, Stoneking recounts a phone call between her and Novascone in which she claims he got angry after hearing of her organization’s decision to endorse Tiahrt.
"He has been a leader in Second Amendment issues," she said. "He has done a number of things that have been very important to protect Second Amendment rights in Kansas.”
In days prior to the endorsement, both campaigns were told KSRA members couldn’t endorse a candidate. The decision to endorse Tiahrt camp from the group’s board. The Tiahrt campaign, in a press conference Monday, discussed the importance of guns rights- attempting to make it yet another issue for the already messy campaign.
Stoneking’s allegations were followed up with an open letter from former Moran campaign manager Paul Moore, who also announced his endorsement of Tiahrt claiming Moran wasn’t "instinctively conservative”. Moore worked for the Moran campaign for only a few months- reports show he managed Moran’s Senate campaign from February to mid-April but stayed on the payroll until May.
“Our country desperately needs men and women of backbone who don’t have to consult political weather vanes to know what they stand for,” Moore stated in his letter. “Neither candidate is perfect, but Todd Tiahrt will instinctively stand up for the country’s founding principles – without regard for the political winds. Jerry Moran would be reliable – so long as the winds are blowing in a conservative direction, as they are now.”
