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The three-way Democratic primary race for secretary of state officially descended into attack ads this week with the release of a 30-second video blast by animal protection advocates against state Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Eugene).
The primary pits Hoyle against Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and state Sen. Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), three candidates who agree on nearly all issues.
But the ad finds a way to distinguish Hoyle: dead elephants.
The ad, paid for by the Humane Society Legislative Fund, targets Hoyle, the former House majority leader, for killing a 2015 bill that would have banned the buying and selling of ivory in Oregon.
That bill passed the Senate, which is normally more conservative than the House, but never came up for a vote on the House floor.
Last October, when proponents of an ivory ban introduced a ballot measure, Hoyle told The Oregonian the bill would not have passed the House.
As The Oregonian reported at the time: "Hoyle said Monday that she told supporters of the bill that she was 'not going to pick a fight with the NRA' over a bill that did not have the votes to pass. 'If the votes were there, the speaker would have moved the bill,' she said." (The National Rifle Association argued the bill would hamper the sale of firearms with ivory features.)
In a statement, Hoyle's campaign manager, Cody Chasteen, says the ad misrepresents Hoyle's position:
Ironically, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week gave Hoyle $250,000 for her willingness to take on the NRA.
(Correction: Cody Chasteen's statement originally referred to the state director of the Oregon Humane Society. In fact, he meant the "senior state director of the Humane Society of the United States. The Oregon Humane Society played no role in the ad or the secretary of state's race and is not affiliated with the Humane Society of the United States.)
Willamette Week