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Ed Shadid accidentally mailed the wrong negative campaign postcard…

2:55 PM EST on March 3, 2014

Last Friday, certain voters in the Oklahoma City area received a very strange postcard in the mail from the Ed Shadid campaign.

Here's the front of the card:

shadid pc front

Ok, that's not the weird part. It's just a typical negative campaign ad. The whole "Mayor Cornett spent two years getting his MBA from NYU, and therefore, he doesn't care about Oklahoma City and shouldn't be mayor" message has been consistently delivered by Shadid and his supporters throughout this campaign. Although I see how the issue can irk some people, it really doesn't bother me. Is it weird for the Mayor to go out-of-state to get an MBA? Maybe. Does it really matter in this age of connectivity, smartphones, emails and a daily non-stop flight from OKC to Newark? Not really. Did it affect his job as mayor? I don't think so.

Here's the part where the postcard gets funny / amusing / strange. On the reverse side, it warns that Mayor Mick's time in New York City may have made him a little too "Big League City" for OKC's taste. Specifically, it calls out the Mayor for turning Bricktown into 1970s Times Square and being in favor of gay rights. It even quotes Mary Fallin.

Check it out.

shadid pc back

Yeah, there's a lot of strange text there. The oddest part has to be the third big bold red-x where Ed goes all Derplahoman and criticizes the Mayor for not irrationally hating homosexuals:

Gay Resolution / Play. Cornett voted for a 2011 'gay rights' City Council Resolution after running on an anti-gay platform. He did nothing to stop the offensive pro-gay Christmas play on city property last year?"

Uhm, okay? I guess I'll vote for Mayor Mick Cornett then. Thanks Ed Shadid!

Seriously, though, what's up with that? Ed's supposed to be the progressive, liberal, equality-for-all-candidate who supports gay rights. Why's he criticizing Mayor Cornett for essentially doing the same thing? It would be like Cornett attacking Shadid for being supportive of the original MAPS tax:

"Ed Shadid was in favor of a 6-year, one penny sales tax that helped ignite and fuel Oklahoma City's renaissance. He has done nothing to stop the success of the Oklahoma City Thunder."

After the mailer went out, voters in both camps noted the hypocritical language on social media. Ed promptly responded with the following "Oops!" statement on his website:

Response to Mailer

Today, I was blindsided by some of the language used in a mailer from my campaign. I did not authorize the language in the mailer and my campaign manager, who is a gay combat veteran, also gave specific instructions to the consultant who drafted the language that it not be used.

The focus of the message on today's mailer was to highlight Mick's duplicitous stance towards the LGBT community. While I have always been a fierce advocate for the LGBT community, Mick waivers from running on an anti-gay platform in multiple elections to accepting an endorsement this week from a handful of gay Oklahomans. While this language is regrettable, I will continue to relentlessly advocate for and point out injustices against every marginalized community in our city.

Yep, Ed blamed the consultant. In case you care, it's apparently this guy:

Lance-Cargill-steps-down

If that face doesn't ring a bell, it belongs to Lance Cargill. He's the former Republican golden boy who had to step down as Oklahoma Speaker of the House in 2008 when faced with campaign and ethics violations. He left office and started a consultancy firm with Rick from the KATT's "Rick and Brad." Apparently, his firm has worked for the Shadid campaign and, according to sources and other media reports, is the one behind the "Gay people suck" mailer.

Cargill was a screw up as Speaker, so if he is somehow involved, I can see him messing up something as simple as a campaign postcard for Ed Shadid. The most likely scenario is the postcard was originally drafted for a targeted group of Oklahoma voters (or a really sad episode of Rick and Brad Theatre), was not approved for distribution, and yet somehow slipped through the cracks and landed in voters mailboxes. Or maybe Cargill got distracted by a sultry voicemail and accidentally emailed the wrong file to the mail house. Both seem plausible.

Regardless, instead of blaming the goofy consultant, Ed Shadid should have accepted responsibility, admitted it was a mistake, apologized, and then attacked Mayor Cornett for his spotty record on supporting gay rights – a record that I'm surprised hasn't been brought up by traditional media outlets like The Oklahoman. Ha. Just kidding about that.

Anyway, with tomorrow being election day, this is probably the last interesting news item to come out either campaign. Regardless of who you support, go out and vote tomorrow. Except of course, if you want to vote for one of the other two weirdos in the race. Screw them.

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