The Ron Klein-Allen West congressional contest took another nasty turn with the dissemination of a lien supposedly against West's house bearing West's Social Security number.
The copy of the 2005 document, circulated by the Florida Democratic Party as part of a campaign mailer for Klein, inadvertently bore his Republican opponent's Social Security number, party officials said. They called it an "oversight."
West's campaign spokesman Josh Grodin wasn't buying that explanation.
"This was deliberate," Grodin told Sunshine State News. "The actual lien has (West's wife's) name and their address. (Democrats) had it professionally done to block out the address and white out her name. They knew exactly what they were doing (by leaving the Social Security number unredacted).
Grodin wasn't letting Klein, D-Boca Raton, off the hook either.
"It's easy to connect the dots. If the Republican Party does something on our behalf, they coordinate with our campaign. Klein knew exactly what he was doing," Grodin said.
Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff told the Palm Beach Post, "We apologize for the oversight of not redacting this information from the public record included in the mailer. In order to stop the crazy West accusations, we will pay for identify theft monitoring for the next two years.
Befitting the snarky tone of the feisty CD 22 race, Jotkoff went on to suggest that West was suffering from paranoia.
Grodin said West would pass up the Democrats' offer for ID-theft monitoring.
"He and Angela are taking the appropriate measures to protect their own identities," Grodin said.
As for paranoia, Grodin noted, "South Florida has the highest rate of identity thefts in the country. If they're calling us paranoid, there are a lot of senior citizens who feel the same way."
Klein, in a statement, said, "This was a Florida Democratic Party mailer, and they have made clear that they will take appropriate action to rectify the situation.
"Allen West, on the other hand, continues to refuse to apologize to South Florida voters for claiming to stand for fiscal responsibility while refusing to pay his own bills," Klein said.
Addressing that lien alleged to have been placed against the Wests in Marion County (Indianapolis) Ind., Grodin previously stated: "Allen West and his wife, Dr. Angela M. Graham-West, have never resided, nor owned property in Marion County, and there was never a valid IRS lien placed upon them."
West's campaign said the report of a lien was an error that the IRS has since corrected.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
