CHICAGO — Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) Wednesday joined in chargings that the 2nd Congressional election is being bought, and touted his own record on gun control..
Beale, one of a number of candidates vying to replace ex-Re. Jesse Jackson Jr. posted a new 30-second TV spot on YouTube that opens with the accusation: "A New York Super PAC is spending a fortune trying to buy the 2nd District special election."
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has used his Independence USA Super Political Action Committee to spend more than $2 million in campaign ads in the race, two-thirds of it attacking Debbie Halvorson of Crete and the other third in support of Robin Kelly of Matteson. Halvorson charged Monday that the election was "compromised" by the funding.
Kelly has made gun control the focus of her campaign, drawing attention to how Halvorson, a former one-term member of Congress, received high marks from the National Rifle Association.
The Beale ad went on to claim "no candidate comes close to matching Anthony Beale's record of fighting gun violence" and cites his sponsorship of gun-control legislation in the City Council.
A day after Beale criticized opponents for saying, "I will stand with the president" on gun control, suggesting Chicago had been ahead of even President Barack Obama on the issue, he closed the ad by saying, "I'll stand with President Obama against the NRA."
The special election became necessary when Jackson resigned the seat shortly after winning re-election in November. He pled guilty to federal charges of misusing campaign funds Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
According to Beale's campaign spokeswoman, he is not currently buying TV time to air the ad locally but is only posting it online.
The special primary is Tuesday, with the general election set for April 9.
