George Brauchler
Unity. That’s the political term of the day in the aftermath of last Tuesday’s primary. I was on the front lines in this race, I wrote in my ballot, and since Tuesday, the watchword for the Republican Party has been “unity.”
We’re not there yet.
Politics is a rough game. I’ve voted five times in the last 16 years, and I’ve thrown hard punches and received many more. Accusations of inexperience, incompetence, soft on crime, and harboring values at odds with my party are commonplace. Partial facts are twisted into the unrecognizable. But that’s politics, and anyone who wonders whether they can withstand such attacks should remain an anonymous social media troll. Some of the harshest attacks have come from within the Republican Party, and this year has been no exception, just worse.
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State and county Republicans, in an unprecedented move, have endorsed me against them, but not because I am unfit for office or because I do not share their values. No. My gravest political crime was not a few hundred votes in a gymnasium, but getting my name on the primary ballot with the signatures of 1,300 Republicans. Now that I have lost nearly every election they endorsed, the message they want to convey to me is “unity.”
People are wrong to compare politics to sports: sports have written, conventional codes of conduct that modern politics do not.
I am writing this while watching my youngest son play in a baseball game. Win or lose, the young people cross the field and shake each other’s hands. That’s sportsmanship. It used to be customary in politics for the losing candidate to call the winner, admit defeat, and wish him good luck in serving his community. I called Phil Weiser the morning after the 2018 general election, and it was the worst. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was appropriate and necessary. In a primary election, the call is even more important because the campaign is only half over, and success often depends on all the previously opposing factions coming together to defeat the other candidate in November.
But things have changed a lot since I last voted. Politics has become more mean and personal. It’s hateful and toxic. The guardrails of decency that once existed have been blown away so many times that they are no longer in sight. Yet, despite the crudeness of our political process, the idea of HIOB (see HBO’s “Entourage”) or “overcoming in the name of unity” remains an expectation.
I don’t agree.
There must be limits to how we interact with each other in public, let alone in person. If we fail to set acceptable standards now — standards we want future candidates to be held to — politics will only get worse and turn into a mosh pit of the most acerbic characters. We must hold each other accountable, and not simply dismiss the things we cannot ignore as “just politics.”
It didn’t matter in my campaign that my opponent fabricated an endorsement by nationally known conservative Allen West, had to remove multiple social media posts claiming endorsements from people who didn’t support me, and even colluded with a small extremist gun group to spread a false narrative about my record. These things are not unexpected in politics.
But it didn’t end there. My opponent’s campaign and supporters took a much more personal, aggressive and damaging approach to defeating me. It started with a complaint to Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, accusing me of running a “shadow campaign.” They then filed a fabricated complaint with the Attorney Regulation Counsel’s Office, attacking my license to practice law. Next, they made my daughter the subject of a Facebook page promoted by my opponent’s spouse. In recent weeks, they have claimed I was fired from 710KNUS, accused me of numerous crimes, including bribery of public officials and embezzlement of $30 million in taxpayer money, and made many more vile, salacious and unfounded allegations. For them, nothing was off limits.
These are despicable and desperate acts, especially as my children take to social media to follow their father’s campaigns. Without an explanation or apology and unless removed from social media, they will remain there forever.
My story is just one example of the many candidates who have been attacked in this way. With no public backlash or repercussions, these tactics are becoming more and more acceptable.
I can’t do it. I can’t do it anymore.
The election result was never in doubt. I outnumbered my opponent by nearly 2 to 1. But my opponent never called to concede. Not even a direct message or text. Instead, there were misspelled tweets and corny expressions about “iron sharpening iron.” The truth is: excrement doesn’t sharpen iron, it only fouls the blade. For Republicans, there were immediate calls to “come together” from those who had been campaigning against Republicans.
That’s true, but unity doesn’t come from ignoring a “whatever it takes” approach to politics. Unity requires personal responsibility. There must be a personal phone call — an apology — to every little athlete shaking hands with their opponent. Without that there can be no forgiveness. Retract the personal, hateful lies. And commit to doing better.
Let’s unite on common sense first, politics will follow.
George Brauchler is a former District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District and a candidate for District Attorney for the newly created 23rd Judicial District. He served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler.
