Thursday, February 12, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods Did GOP Criticism Send Williams' Mother to Hospital?
Posted by Jeff Woods on Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 7:34 AM
Williams was asked whether all the recent criticism about his character made by GOP Chairwoman Robin Smith and other Republican leaders had any impact on his parents' health. He downplayed any impact the comments might have had."They are both very tough people," Williams said. "I am sure the comments did upset them, and that is why I don't use personal attacks in my campaigns, because of how it affects an entire family."
One example of how his mother responded to the party's attacks on her son came the week he became house speaker. She received a fundraising phone call from the GOP soliciting funds to defeat Williams in the next election. After listening to the criticisms of the way he gained the speaker's chair, she informed the caller that she was Williams' mother and told him she would no longer be sending any money and to take her phone number off the calling list.
In addition to the phone solicitation, the state party has run an advertisement in the Elizabethton Star saying Williams was guilty of "lies and deceptions meant to secure his own ambition for personal power."
State Republican Party spokesman Bill Hobbs said the ad was meant "to get the party's official view of events on the record in Carter County, unfiltered by the media."
Earlier in our soap opera, you'll recall, Rep. Susan Lynn went to the hospital with an anxiety attack. Rep. Brian Kelsey blamed Williams and the Democrats for her illness. House Democratic Caucus leader Mike Turner blamed Kelsey. Yesterday, Turner went to the hospital with chest pains. Maybe it really is time for a little bipartisanship now.
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