To: Interested Parties
From: DCCC Press Secretary Evan Lukaske
Re: The Case Against Karen Handel
Date: April 19, 2017
Jon Ossoff has earned a decisive first place finish in the special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, and now the race has moved to a likely runoff. After months of division and indecision, the Republicans reluctantly chose a candidate. Luckily for Democrats, it is former-Secretary of State Karen Handel, a big-spending career politician with a history of making decisions based on personal gain.
Handel’s career as a big-spending career politician will haunt her candidacy until June 20th. Even fellow Republicans have taken aim at her wasteful spending and nonstop electioneering, slamming her for purchasing a “Lexus on the taxpayer dime,” and for spending the past 15 years running “six times for five different offices.” In addition, Handel earned national headlines in 2012 for using her influence at the Susan G. Komen foundation to cut off the organization’s grants to Planned Parenthood, and subsequently tried to profit from the controversy.
And those vulnerabilities were apparent in Handel’s primary performance as she limped across the finish line, largely to the name recognition that comes with being a career politician. She garnered less than 20% of the vote even after two statewide runs in 2010 and 2014, and relied on Republican Super PACs to carry her campaign. Even worse, in a recent Revily poll, Handel posted an alarmingly weak favorability rating: half of Georgia 6th voters view her unfavorably. With a name ID above 85%, it’s clear voters know Handel—they just don’t like her.
Lastly, she’ll face a strong candidate in national security staffer and investigative filmmaker Jon Ossoff, who garnered over 48% of the vote in an 18-person field, in a district that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1979 and voted for then-Representative Tom Price by 24 points.
Handel’s big-spending ways are well documented and should cause fiscally responsible Georgians to shudder.
- As Secretary of State, Karen Handel increased her office budget by 42% and as the head of the Fulton County Commission, “her personal office budget rose by 43%.”
- Handel spent $13,500 in two years on travel and used a taxpayer-funded state airplane.
- Handel used taxpayer dollars for a brand new Lexus SUV for herself. Rather than use a state car, Handel used taxpayer dollars to drive a “Lexus SUV that still has the new-car smell.”
- Handel suggested spending $15,000 on new chairs for the Governor’s Office, even though the state was in “the worst state budget crisis since the Great Depression.”
- Even fellow Republicans attacked her wasteful spending, with the Republican Super PAC Club 4 Growth calling her a “big-spending career politician.”
Handel has spent the past 15 years running for office—usually unsuccessfully.
- Republican Dan Moody slammed Handel as a career politician with a history of wastefulness:
- “Here she comes again. Over the last 15 years, Karen Handel has run six times for five different offices. She usually loses, and she didn’t even finish the jobs we did give her. Always running for the next office, with higher pay or a nice new Lexus on the taxpayer dime. Karen Handel isn’t running for you. She’s running for herself.”
- Republican Bob Gray ripped Handel as a “career politician” who “changes her positions based on political winds.”
After using her influence at the Susan G. Komen foundation to strip funding from Planned Parenthood, Handel sought to personally profit from the national controversy.
- Handel has attacked Planned Parenthood for years—while running for governor, she pledged to defund the women’s health organization.
- In 2012, Handel used her influence as a top executive at the Susan G. Komen foundation, an organization whose mission is to cure breast cancer, to cut its grants to Planned Parenthood.
- The Komen foundation reversed Handel’s decision after it created a national embarrassment and caused a $77 million drop in donations, a 22% decline.
- Handel sought to profit from the fiasco by writing a book entitled, Planned Bullyhood.
Conclusion
After successfully weathering $4.2 million in television smear attacks from D.C. Republicans, Jon Ossoff can finally draw a contrast between his vision for Atlanta’s high-tech future and Karen Handel’s background as a career politician with a history of wasteful spending. Candidates matter, and while Georgia’s 6th Congressional District hasn’t elected a Democrat in 37 years, Handel’s serious vulnerabilities create a competitive matchup with Ossoff, whose campaign has been fueled with grassroots energy, and who is set to continue his momentum through the likely runoff.