Ready on Kratovil’s fundraising remarks: ‘Pot meet kettle’

State GOP Executive Director Justin Ready is taking State's Attorney Frank Kratovil (D-Stevensville) to task for what Ready believes is the Democratic congressional candidate’s hypocrisy.

In an interview with PolitickerMD.com last week , the 1st district Democratic nominee said that his opponent, state Sen. Andy Harris (R-Cockeysville), would “arguably raise more money than me.”

“It is amazing, in my view, that Kratovil didn’t outraised (sic) Harris big-time considering the huge fundraisers he had in D.C. and Prince George’s County, as well as with anti-gun activists on the Eastern Shore,” wrote Ready in an email to PolitickerMD.com. “He is not even attempting to hide his desire to be a lap dog for the left-wing leadership in Maryland.”

Ready continued: “His comments about how his contributors are more working class and criticisms that Harris gets big business and special interest money are laughable considering that he has held huge DC and Prince George’s County fundraisers where the price of admission was $1,000 and $2,300.”

Ready then pointed to what he described as Kratovil’s hypocrisy: “If Kratovil wants to talk about special interest money, he should look in the mirror. He keeps hammering on the point that Andy Harris raised a ton of money from Club for Growth which is a conservative, pro-small business organization.”

Kratovil also told PolitickerMD.com that “when I'm talking to people about the problems with the economy and these concerns that everybody has - unlike a lot of people that run for office - I'm not talking about it in the abstract.”

Ready took a shot at these remarks as well: “Kratovil criticizes raising money from business people and mainstream Republican activists while simultaneously holding fundraisers for D.C. and Prince George’s County liberal elites. Pot meet kettle.”

David Paulson, the state Democratic Party’s communications director responded in an email to PolitickerMD.com.

“Frank Kratovil must have exposed a raw nerve for the Republican Party to get all whomper-jawed and discombobulated like that,” Paulson wrote. “I’ve never seen them so upset.”

Paulson went on: “It’s like they don’t know that over half of Andy Harris’ campaign cash has come from out of state so far. He’s the candidate (sic) took almost $900,000 in direct and indirect cash payments and dirty campaign ads from that out-of-state, extremist, special-interest cash-cow known as the Club for Growth.”

Paulson continued, calling Andy Harris “9% Andy.”

“‘9% Andy’ has been bought and paid for by special interests who are fighting hard to pollute the environment, pave the Eastern Shore and destroy Medicare and Social Security,” he said.

“Of course Democrats all over Maryland are supporting Frank Kratovil – we know he is winning this race, not the guy with a very poor 9% voting record with Maryland’s leading conservation organization.”

Paulson concluded his message: “Hey, maybe that’s why they’re so upset.”

Frank Kratovil and Andy Harris are currently competing for the MD-1 seat, in what some observers are calling one of the closest races in the country. The Kratovil campaign was contacted, but declined to comment for this article.