Peters ad sparks protest by Raczkowski supporters
Published: Thursday, September 23, 2010
By Shaun Byron, For the Daily Tribune
Rocky Raczkowski supporters protest outside the Berkley Public Library. The campaign for Rep. Gary Peters debuted a new TV ad, “Truth,” which talks about a pending $6 million fraud case against Peters’ congressional opponent, Rocky Raczkowski. Tim Thompson/For the Daily Tribune
BERKLEY — A television advertisement looking to focus attention on a $6.48 million lawsuit and criminal allegations against GOP challenger Rocky Raczkowski is attracting plenty of attention from both sides of the political fence.
A new television advertisement called “Trust” was presented to the media by U.S. Rep. Gary Peters’ campaign manager Dan Farough and Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer at a news conference Thursday at the Berkley Public Library on Coolidge Highway.
Raczkowski seeks to unseat Peters, a first-term incumbent, in the Nov. 2 general election.
The advertisement gives attention to ongoing litigation involving former business partners who accuse Raczkowski of bilking them out of millions of dollars from a series of outdoor rock concerts that were held while he was chief operating officer of Star Tickets.
Farough said the timing of the advertisement has nothing to do with recent reports of Raczkowski leading in the polls against Peters.
An automated poll conducted Sept. 13 of 300 likely voters in the 9th Congressional District has Raczkowski with about a 5 percent lead.
Farough said the validity of the results is questionable because it was automated, which raises the margin of error, and the poll used a small sample size.
Outside of the library were a number of Raczkowski supporters protesting the advertisement.
Sue Berstein of Farmington Hills and Glenn Clark of Troy led the group of citizens — calling themselves the Oakland County Truth Squad. Berstein and Clark both cited Peters’ voting record, saying he’s a part of the political machine with a 95 percent history of voting with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on issues of health care reform and cap and trade.
“If he’s going to run, he ought to run on his record, not on a smear campaign,” Berstein said.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit and if Gary Peters wants to use half-truths and innuendo as far as the character of his opponent, that needs to get out to voters of this district,” Clark added.
Listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed Feb. 11, 2009, in South Dakota, are Rozone Productions LLC, RTR Illuminated Investors 3 LLC and Robert Rosen. The lawsuit will go to trial this spring.
In an affidavit of Rozeon Productions Chief Executive Officer David Rosen and filed in Texas, the company hired Star Tickets while promoting a series of outdoor concerts in South Dakota.
In the document, he accuses Raczkowski of taking possession of the boxes containing ticket stubs following the events and destroying it as evidence to steal a portion of the profits by underreporting attendance.
Rosen said his company was told attendance was estimated by Star Tickets to be about 25,000 while he contends it was much greater.
The lawsuit has been an ongoing issue for Raczkowski and was brought up during the primary election.
Brewer, the state Democratic Party chairman, said that as an attorney, the case is not a routine dispute between business partners, citing allegations of fraud and conspiracy.
“If this lawsuit was frivolous or without merit, it would be dismissed by now,” he said.
http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2010/09/23/news/doc4c9c1b8ebec2a999494897.txt
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