‘I will not be intimidated’

HICKORY - Republican congressional candidate Lance Sigmon said Monday he would not be intimidated or threatened by a letter from his opponent’s attorney demanding him to remove a TV advertisement from the airwaves or face legal action.

READ THE LETTER

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s re-election campaign, through a Hickory attorney, told Sigmon to remove the TV ad, which touches on a controversial trip the congressman took to Iraq over Easter weekend.

McHenry’s personal attorney Kelsey Williams faxed the letter to Sigmon on Friday. The letter references Sigmon’s political ad that began running on local cable television Friday. In the ad, Sigmon is critical of a video McHenry shot in the Green Zone while on his trip to Iraq and says it may have led to an attack April 6 that killed two soldiers and wounded 17 others.

In the video, McHenry points to the locations of damage from rocket attacks.

Sigmon claims in the ad the video revealed troop locations and that McHenry could face up to 10 years in prison under espionage laws. He has called for a congressional investigation into the matter, but nothing has come of that.

Last week, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia said there is no way McHenry’s video aided the enemy. Marshall was on the trip with McHenry.

Williams’ letter states the troop locations assertion is false and the video did not cause the death of two Americans. Williams letter said several issues on the video are false and aimed at “smearing Representative McHenry’s reputation.”

Sigmon said the ad did not make that assertion, only that the deaths occurred after the airing of the video on McHenry’s Web site. Shortly after placing the video on his Web site, McHenry took it down. After removing the video, members of McHenry’s staff contacted the U.S. Defense Department and were told it would be best not to post the video again.

Providing the location and damage of enemy fire is not allowed, according to military officials.

The video aired on McHenry’s Web site April 3 and 4. However, the video was available at the Army Times Web site through a remote server until Friday.

McHenry also came under fire from Democrats and his opponent for calling a security guard “two-bit” during the March Iraq trip. He later said that was a poor choice of words.

Sigmon said airing the video was an attempt to distract voters from McHenry’s actions during and after his trip to Iraq. Sigmon said he was personally offended by a reference from McHenry’s spokesman Wes Climer calling him “Lying Lance.”

Sigmon reiterated his call for an independent investigation into the matter, and said he would contact federal authorities about an investigation.

McHenry campaign manager Rebecca Yount watched and videoed Sigmon’s news conference, but referred questions to Williams.

Williams said sending such “cease and desist” letters during political campaigns is common and said he had sent similar letters in past campaigns, including McHenry’s election in 2004.

“There’s nothing out of the ordinary,” Williams said. “It’s not in any way intimidating to him. It just states the facts.”

Later in the day, Climer responded to Sigmon’s offense of the “Lying Lance” reference.

“Military experts and combat veterans on the trip with Congressman McHenry have already discredited Mr. Sigmon’s absurd claims,” he said. “It is obvious that he would rather repeat baseless lies and play gutter politics than work on the solutions to the challenges that face western North Carolina.”

I have been most happy with Congressman Patrick McHenry’s performance as our Representative.  He always follows up my emails about various issues and Congressional actions with a personal letter addressing my concerns.  He sends out mailings which keep me informed about issues and his positions and activities.  He votes his constituency; that is, he votes in our interests and according to the way we think and feel.  He voted against CAFTA.  He has visited many businesses and industries in our district.  He has helped many people solve their problems with government agencies.  He has obtained numerous
things for our district that were beneficial.
What more could we ask for?  I’ll vote to keep him and I hope enough others will do the same.

Mary, while I can appreciate your loyalty, it seems a little blind perhaps.  From your report it does sound like McHenry would make a good admin secretary or legislative assistant, but since he lacks integrity, courage, knowledge, judgement and leadership he has no business being an elected leader.

Additionally, he seems to have occasional problems with acknowledging and telling the truth.  As an elected leader, McHenry should be serving as both a delegate and a trustee of the people, but it has been more the case that has served His Own Self.  And if you look closely you’ll likely soon learn that his main function in Congress has been to serve as a Rah Rah (cheerleader) lackey for GOP Congress; however having failed at that and too often embarrassed the GOP and Congress in general over the past few years, he may have lost his usefulness. 

Being former Marine Corps myself and after having spoken with two of my Pentagon friends, that the military has stayed quiet on his recent deplorable actions and reactions.

Gilbert

Tonight, I had e-mailed a friend about Patrick McHenry’s newest ad, in response to Lance Sigmond. at the time I called it the biggest blunder in NC political history, of course that was before I heard on all the national news services about John McCain’s response to the NCGOP ad. And I still believe that McHenry’s ad saying Sigmond is exploiting the deaths of servicemen, for political gain, is the worst, the most dispicable, and the most shamless ad I Have ever seen in my life. Unfortunately Mr. McHenry’s e-mail site is no longer on the NCGOP website, so I am unable to write to him directly.

Dear Deborah and Gilbert, I am most appreciative of your replies and viewpoints.  What you think and feel about McHenry is the same as I think and feel about his opponent, Lance Sigmon.  Ads and accusations despicable.  Gutter politics.  I believe we do agree on one thing--John McCain should not try to tell NC Republicans what to do about our ads.  Obama and Rev. Wright ARE too extreme for us.  But I think we’ll beat them in November whoever it is.  Best Regards to fellow Republicans.

Mr. Sigmon, give up this tired argument already. While I am glad you’re not intimidated, I am not glad that you basically bring nothing great to the table. If you want a seat in Congress (or to even be the GOP rep) you need to outline your plans to be a better congressman that Mr. McHenry. So far I haven’t heard anything that makes you worthy of the nomination (just lip service).

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