Pipkin condemns special interest money

Response To Harris Release Against Gilchrest

State Senator E.J. Pipkin's campaign took a swipe at his main First District GOP rivals, saying theirs is "the only viable candidate for Congress ... who has not been tainted by special interests."

Pipkin attacked state Sen. Andy Harris and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest for accepting contributions from political action committees and outside groups spending money on communications toward voters.

Claiming they are "above this type of influence peddling," Pipkin campaign manager Mike Brown said, "Voters can be confident that no one has bought E.J. Pipkin."

But they took specific aim at Harris, singling out a press release from yesterday, in which Harris' campaign manager Chris Meekins called for transparency in the Service Employee International's Union funding of an independent group supporting Gilchrest.

"It's despicable, and even worse, it's illegal if Wayne Gilchrest coordinated this effort," Meekins said. "He should immediately disclose what he knew and when he knew it."

Pipkin's campaign pounced. Last month, a supporter of theirs filed a Federal Election Complaint against Harris' camp, alleging they illegally coordinated activities with the Club for Growth.

"For the first time the Harris Campaign has said something that is worth hearing," Brown said. "But they should know ‘People who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones,'" calling on Harris to "immediately reveal their involvement" with the Club for Growth.

In response, Meekins said, "Pipkin is a Wall Street junk bond trader who is being forced to spend hundreds of thousands of his own money because individual donors do not want to back a desperate failing campaign."

"In contrast [Harris] has broken every fundraising mark through generous contributions from over 5,500 individual donors who embrace his conservative message."