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Friday, October 05, 2012 8:15 AM GOP ad targets Bibbs' DWI convictions Bibbs: 'Worst kind of gutter politics' By Janet Conner-Knox | Times Staff Writer It arrived in some Wilson mailboxes this week and it drew quite a response. Democratic candidate Mark Bibbs said it’s a sign Republicans are desperate to win by bringing up old issues. Republican candidate Susan Martin said she isn’t responsible, but it’s true. At issue is a new ad flier for House District 8 paid for by the North Carolina Republican Party. It has a mugshot of Bibbs with his former inmate number on it. "Mark Bibbs was arrested for a level four DWI. At the time of that arrest, Bibbs was already on supervised probation from a level one DWI previously,” the ad states. The ad goes on to say that Bibbs resisted arrest and that his chemical breath test was nearly four times the legal limit at .44. "Why is this relevant in a campaign for State Representative? The answer is simple: poor judgment,” the ad asks and states. Bibbs said the ad is cheesy, in poor taste and is negative campaigning. Martin said she had no knowledge of the ad until she got one in the mail Thursday. Bibbs said he first got wind of the ad when his neighbor received one in the mail Thursday. "My first reaction was that this is the absolute worst kind of gutter politics,” Bibbs said. "It’s not really worthy of a response. It’s un-American. And it’s a classic act of desperation on the Republican Party’s part,” The Wilson Times emailed seven questions to the state Republican party. They answered one question and issued a short statement. "The North Carolina Republican Party stands by the content of the mailer,” said Scott Laster, executive director. Bibbs said Republicans fear losing so they have resorted to negative ads. He pointed to a poll from Public Policy Polling. Among those who responded, if there was an election today, Bibbs would get 48 percent of the vote, Martin 41 percent and 11 percent were undecided, according to the poll. In the poll, 55 percent of those polled were Democrat, 30 percent Republican and 16 percent were Independent/other. Critics of this particular poll said it leans toward Democrats and was commissioned by Bibbs. "Clearly if you are in the lead – if Republicans thought they were in the lead in winning this race, they wouldn’t go negative,” Bibbs said. "You only go negative when you’re trailing.” Bibbs said Martin’s message to voters hasn’t clicked with them. "Nobody really knows what her message is,” Bibbs said. "I don’t know what her message is. And it’s not resonating, so the only way to win is to go negative on your opponent and try and tear them down.” Bibbs said it is inconceivable to him that Martin didn’t know about the ad before it went out. "I did not approve the ad, but the facts are the facts,” Martin said. "Sadly Mark’s public record reveals that he is not fit to represent the people of this district. Integrity and character matter. Mark’s decision to run for public office while he has current, outstanding issues is just another example of his poor judgment.” Bibbs said if she thinks the ad is negative, she should come out and say so. "If Susan had nothing to do with this ad, and no knowledge of it, then I call on her to repudiate it and denounce it publicly,” Bibbs said. Martin said she is not surprised that this information on the ad is coming out and Bibbs should not be surprised either. But she said she doesn’t believe in negative ads. "I am no fan of negative ads,” Martin added. "It is sad that it is completely true. I am running for state House because if people of integrity are not willing to serve, politics will never change. Personally, I do not want Mark Bibbs representing me in Raleigh.” REACTION TO AD Gary Proffitt, chair of the Wilson County Republican Party, said he didn’t know about the ad until his neighbor called him. "The Wilson County Republican Party had no inclination this was going to happen,” Proffitt said. "I’ve not seen it. It has been described to me, but I haven’t looked at it. We would never do a negative ad. I would never authorize it.” Bibbs said the DWI is an old issue and he has moved forward from it in a positive way. "This is something I talked about early on in this campaign – back in February when I first filed,” Bibbs said. ”I always knew that this would be a topic in the campaign. I had hoped that it would be a campaign about issues. But again it’s about gutter politics and negatives.” Bibbs said he was discharged from the DWIs he had pleaded guilty to in 2004 and 2007, more that eight years ago on one and more than five years ago on the other. "I plead guilty to them – I paid my costs, I did what the court ordered me to do,” Bibbs said. "I don’t see any other reason to keep airing this over and over again. It’s not something I’ve tried to keep secret. It’s something that is obviously very public.” Bibbs said he has asked his family for forgiveness as well as his friends, church family and other lawyers and they have all forgiven him and let it go. He said he has spent a few days in jail, gone to a rehabilitation program, done public service, and believes that God has forgiven him. "My opponent said from the beginning that she wanted to run an issue-oriented campaign,” Bibbs said. "She called herself Christian and conservative. Well I’m a Christian, too. I don’t know what type of Christian religion she has, but the bible that I read says God is a forgiving God. You don’t keep talking about mistakes of the past.” Bibbs said the DWIs happened years ago, not last week or last month or last year. "It’s something that happened in my life during a very dark period,” Bibbs said. "I drank more alcohol than I should. And I told you folks that I am an alcoholic. Once you’re an alcoholic, you’re always an alcoholic. Whether you drink any more or not is a whole different question.” Bibbs said his life has been plagued with whispers and watching him everywhere he goes, and he said that is not something anyone would like to endure. "This in a constant reminder that some people won’t let go of the past,” Bibbs said. This isn’t the only ad Bibbs is taking issue with during the campaign. "They tried to link me in supporting gay marriage – which I do not,” Bibbs said. "I’ve said that on the campaign trail, I’ve said it to civic groups, that I am opposed to gay marriage. We have a law in North Carolina now that makes it illegal for two men to marry each other or two women to marry each other.” Bibbs said he voted against Amendment One because there were too many unintended consequences for heterosexual couples who have children, for older people who are not married and live together that would affect their health decisions, social security and many other issues. "It treats heterosexual unmarried couples unfairly – it targets them as well as same sex couples, and that’s why I was opposed to it,” Bibbs said. Bibbs said he was particularly offended by a tax ad because his wife was targeted. Bibbs said his wife Jennifer is a school psychologist and a public employee. "In that direct mail piece, they put her name on the back of it and highlighted it in yellow,” Bibbs complained. "Bringing in a candidate’s husband or wife or kids or family into a campaign’s negative tactic is never OK,” Bibbs said. "My wife has done nothing to anybody.” Bibbs said his wife supports his campaign, but she was upset that her name was on the back of the flier. Bibbs said he has learned many lessons from his past DWIs. He believes there should be stiffer penalties for first-time offenders. He said he has talked to other attorneys and prosecuting attorneys and is willing to sponsor a bill for tougher first-time convictions. "This is something that, had it happened to me early on the first time, there would not have been a second time. I am confident in that,” Bibbs said. "Every DUI offender in this state, no matter what their blood alcohol level was ... if they’re guilty of driving while impaired, or driving under the influence of an impairing substance, be it cocaine, marijuana or pain pills, you get a mandatory period of time in the county jail.” Bibbs said he feel uniquely qualified to introduce the bill. He said it was terrible being locked up and he believes it will deter anyone from doing it again. Bibbs said he would suggest weekends for first-time offenders. He said it would be eye opening. Bibbs said if the GOP is bringing up issues such as this one, they need to have their candidate debate him in public. He wonders if Martin won’t debate him, how will she debate issues on the legislative floor if elected. janet@wilsontimes.com | 265-7847 |
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I Vote Bibbs said...
I vote for Mark Bibbs thats for sure.Little Miss Susie Homemaker is just playing a dirty game and lying about it.Shes trying to pretend to be so innocent and pretend she has nothing to do with all the gossip about Bibbs.He is the right man for the job and I can bet you he will get the job done!He's not afraid of a good fight and he loves a challenge.However Susan will crumble under pressure and Bibbs will stand strong when he's put under pressure.Who cares if he had a DWI.Many of the others did it But they just didnt get caught.Vote Bibbs ,If you want someone to stand strong and get the job done!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 11:22 PM
To @ sick of DWI stuff said...I vote for Mark Bibbs thats for sure.Little Miss Susie Homemaker is just playing a dirty game and lying about it.Shes trying to pretend to be so innocent and pretend she has nothing to do with all the gossip about Bibbs.He is the right man for the job and I can bet you he will get the job done!He's not afraid of a good fight and he loves a challenge.However Susan will crumble under pressure and Bibbs will stand strong when he's put under pressure.Who cares if he had a DWI.Many of the others did it But they just didnt get caught.Vote Bibbs ,If you want someone to stand strong and get the job done!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 11:22 PM
It's very sad that you don't realize that thinking voters see right thru Susan Martin. She has no plan. No ideas. No idea of how to get things done for us in Raleigh. Bibbs will win this race. I agree with the comment that Bibbs is a lot like Bill Clinton. That both have had problems in their personal lives, but that does not transition into problems with policy and government matters. When Bibbs wins, though narrowly, I hope that he will be gracious to those like you and Billy Prickett who have spewn hateful venom at him. I predict he wins narrowly by 2,000 votes of more than 30,000 cast!
Friday, October 12, 2012 at 1:11 PM
The problem I have with Susan Martin is that she conceals herself; and her ideology from the people. She is not clear on how she stands on the issues or her supposed "solutions" to fix our problems. SHE SOUNDS "IN YOU OPINION"ALOT LIKE OSAMA HUSSEIN OBAMA IN MOST PEOPLE'S NORMAL NONPARTISAN OPINION.
Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 8:03 PM
he is not going to win as most people now know of his recent issues with alcohol and his lack of adherance to the law and the many times he put innocent motorists at risk with all his drunk driving episodes and as the elction gets close wilson and greenville newspapers and media will highlight this mans problems to help voters make a " no Brainer" decision to not elect this man. any one with any common sense would not support this habitual drunkard.
Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 7:59 PM
The Libertarian said...
"The problem I have with Susan Martin is that she conceals herself; and her ideology from the people. She is not clear on how she stands on the issues or her supposed "solutions" to fix our problems.
About Electricites; she commented "I do not agree with my opponent’s claims that he can force private companies to be responsible for others’ debts." This shows a complete lack of understanding on her part. The local municipalities picked up the burden to help the "private companies" leverage their debt and avoid a potential rash of power outages to hit due to the expected electrical demand being higher than could be met. Now the municipalities that flocked to their assistance have a higher debt burden than the other electrical consumers.
Susan Martin also vilifies Obamacare, all while supporting its predecessor Romneycare. I do not understand how she can support one but not the other.
She has no idea what’s going on with the Sanderson Farms issue. All she has to say on the issue is “I generally support more local control” and “reduced regulations”. How does that address an issue of a company coming in an over burdening the water supply with pollutants and creating only low wage jobs?
She continues to address economic growth in NC with “reduced regulations” and “improve our business climate”. What exactly does that mean? What are her plans to reduce regulations, what regulations will she reduce, and how can she improve our business climate?
I believe the vagueness of her statements ultimately lend themselves to a simple lack of understanding. A lack of understanding leads to an ineffective leader and a governmental body with no ability to problem solve.
I feel Mark Bibbs is more similar to a Bill Clinton democrat. While they both have issues with their personal lives; they both have the knowledge and drive to make changes than can spur growth and real development for the people."
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 at 11:47 PM
Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 3:33 PM
