Republican State Senate candidate and former Eugene mayor Jim Torrey received criticism Thursday for running campaign advertisements against Democrat incumbent Vicki Walker that her campaign has called misleading.
At a press conference, Walker campaign supporters said the Torrey campaign sent a letter to residents in Walker’s district from a constituent named Janyce Iturra, who wrote an Oct. 4 letter saying Walker ignored her requests for meetings about a crime bill during the 2005 Legislative session. Torrey also ran radio and television ads about the letter.
Walker’s campaign denies that Walker ignored Iturra, citing two letters to Iturra as evidence. Torrey’s camp says the letters may be fakes and that Walker’s supporters should produce phone and e-mail records as evidence that Walker adequately responded to Iturra.
In the letter, Iturra says her son was murdered on Oct. 3, 1994, in his home by two gang members who had been hired by the mother of a boy that Iturra’s son was going to testify against in juvenile court. A legal loophole allowed the mother, who was originally sentenced to life in prison, to have her sentence reduced from a life sentence to 25 years, Iturra said.
Iturra writes that she tried to contact Walker about the bill but Walker said she was “too busy” and didn’t speak to her. Iturra also says that she tried to contact Walker by sending letters, but received no response, adding that she previously voted for Walker but is now supporting Torrey.
Torrey is running against Walker in the race for the District 7 senate seat, which covers north Eugene, Junction City, western Lane County and part of Benton County.
Iturra said her letter is truthful about her experiences with Walker.
Joan Obie, campaign manager for Torrey, said Iturra gave her letter about Walker to Torrey’s daughter.
“We have no reason to believe Janyce Iturra told us anything other than the truth,” Obie said.
Supporters of Walker, including Oregon Democratic Party Chairman Jim Edmunson and Lane County Democratic Party Chairman Val Hoyle held a press conference Thursday to ask for an apology from Torrey and to ask him to take down the advertisements.
Edmunson said the advertisements crossed the line.
“It’s important that we stand up and fight back, and that is what we are doing,” Edmunson said. “Jim Torrey never had my vote, but he had my respect. Now he’s lost my respect, and that is far more important.”
Walker supporters at the press conference presented two letters from Walker to Iturra, committee testimony featuring Iturra and Walker and a fact sheet that disputed the claims in the letter that Walker didn’t respond to Iturra and that Iturra attempted to make an appointment with Walker.
Constituents also testified in support of Walker.
Paul Gage, campaign director for the Senate Democratic Leadership Fund, said Walker’s staff had researched her e-mail and phone archives all the way from 2004 but had found no correspondence from Iturra to Walker.
Obie, Torrey’s campaign manager, said she was contacted about the e-mail and phone records but that she had not seen them. She said the letters from Walker to Iturra that were presented at the conference could be faked and that she would like to see e-mail and phone records.
“If we were in the wrong we would want to know,” Obie said. “If someone wants to show me something, I’ll take a look at it.”
Gage said the Torrey campaign knew the advertisements were “false, misleading and inaccurate” and that the Torrey campaign should remove them.
“This is an attempt by them to divert the attention of Jim Torrey’s support of President Bush,” Gage said.
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News reporter Jobetta Hedelman contributed to this report