Attorney general candidates spar over ‘terrorist’ ad claim

Republican Missouri attorney general candidates Kurt Schaefer and Josh Hawley traded accusations over campaign ads Friday that seek to tie Hawley to Islamic terrorists.

The political primary campaign of Schaefer, a state senator from Boone County, has saturated the airwaves with television ads blasting Hawley, a constitutional law attorney, for allegedly defending terrorists in two court cases.

“I have not defended terrorists. I have defended our Constitution,” Hawley told a crowd of more than 30 people who attended the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women’s Club meeting at Dexter Bar-B-Que. “My opponent has chosen to run the sleaziest campaign in Missouri politics.”

Hawley said Schaefer knows the allegations are false.

“It is despicable. The people of Missouri deserve better,” he said. “If you like negative campaigning, mudslinging, then don’t vote for me.”

But Schaefer stood by his political ads, arguing Hawley defended an Arkansas inmate and Muslim who sued for the right to grow a beard behind bars. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed the inmate had a right to grow a beard for religious reasons.

Hawley said he worked for the firm that handled the case but was not the lawyer in the case. Schaefer said Hawley’s name was on the brief, and Hawley later taught a continuing-education session to New York lawyers about the court case.

Schaefer also has run an ad accusing Hawley of being part of a law firm that sought to have a “terrorist organization” removed from the federal government’s no-fly list.

“It is a question of judgment,” Schaefer said, adding it boils down to whether a candidate supports law enforcement or terrorists. “These are real issues. These are things as voters that you have to decide.”

Schaefer stressed his 20 years of courtroom experience. A former assistant attorney general in Missouri, Schaefer said he has handled more than 100 criminal cases.

“When you are running for this job, a little gray hair matters. Courtroom experience matters,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer said his GOP opponent in the August primary is “a 36-year-old law professor who has never prosecuted anyone.”

But Hawley touts his role in the successful litigation before the Supreme Court in support of the Hobby Lobby company’s religious objection to a provision of the federal health-care law.

This is Hawley’s first run for public office. He said it is time for Missouri to have an attorney general who is not a career politician.

“I think it is time we cleaned out Jefferson City and cleaned up the Capitol,” he told the audience.

Schaefer and Hawley live in the Columbia, Missouri, area and describe themselves as conservatives.

Both railed against what they view as overreach of the federal government.

Schaefer said the federal government is “completely out of control.”

He told the Republican crowd, “There is an attitude in this country that works against law enforcement, that works against the rule of law and it has to stop. It is never acceptable to resort to violence and murder someone.”

Hawley said, “We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis. The lawlessness we see in Dallas and the violence we see across our country is indicative of this. It is the loss of confidence in the founding principles of our country.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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