(Host) We’ve been hearing frequent charges of negative campaigning in the race for governor this year.
And as VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports, now similar concerns are coming up in the contest for Lt. Governor.
(Kinzel) Republican Phil Scott says he was stunned when he saw a new ad from the campaign of his Democratic opponent Steve Howard.
The ad says that Scott is hiding the fact that he’s been endorsed by an extremist group that wants to ban abortion.
Scott says he was surprised because he’s been pro choice throughout his 10 year legislative career. Scott thinks that Howard is deliberately distorting his record.
(Scott) "When I heard the message it was even worse because it was untrue and it seemed so unfair to have people think I was in favor of a different agenda than I am. It just really misrepresents my position on abortion."
(Kinzel) The group in question is Vermont Right to Life. Mary Hahn Beerworth is the executive director of the organization.
She says her group is not endorsing Phil Scott. She says it’s clear that Scott is pro choice but they consider him to be the preferred candidate in the race because he supports parental notification legislation.
Scott says his support for this bill doesn’t undermine his pro choice position.
(Scott) "The lesser of two evils may be what’s in their minds, but I think that’s true, I have supported parental notification. I have two daughters and I feel as though I would like to be part of the process if anything happened to them."
(Kinzel) Steve Howard is defending the accuracy of his ad and says Scott is trying to appeal to all sides in this debate.
(Howard) "You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be the candidate who’s endorsed enthusiastically by the Right to Life committee that wants to make abortion illegal, even in cases of rape and incest, and then say you’re pro choice."
(Kinzel) And Howard says he strongly opposes the passage of a parental notification bill.
(Howard) "For me it is black and white. You either trust women or you don’t. And I really believe that this endorsement indicates that Phil is willing to partner with people who don’t trust women to have control of their own decision making."
(Kinzel) Howard says he has no plans to stop running the ad because he feels it’s an accurate portrayal of his opponent’s views on abortion.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.