DFL PARTY CALLS ON GOP TO DENOUNCE DOCTORED PHOTOS

04/19/2006

ST. PAUL (4/19/06) - Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage began running newspaper ads last week attacking Sen. Don Betzold (DFL-Fridley) for his opposition to the anti-marriage amendment.

The images of Betzold used by the right-wing group were doctored. One has been altered to make Betzold’s face appear grossly out of proportion, angry and frightening. It appears that Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage has photoshopped Betzold’s official senate website photo, flipping his smile upside down and adding deeply creased laugh lines.

The other ad features Betzold with what appears to be his tongue out and his thumb on his nose. The images of Betzold are both unflattering and inaccurate.

“As if distorting the facts wasn’t bad enough, now they’re distorting Senator Betzold’s features,” Minnesota DFL Chair Brian Melendez said. “Doctoring photos takes their already divisive campaign to a new low. They can not win on the merits, so they’re turning to libel and misinformation.

“The Republican Party should have learned a lesson from the failed special election campaign of Dan “the Ox” Ochsner - you can not push an agenda in Minnesota using false images. The Republican Party should denounce this latest effort to deceive Minnesotans.

“Governor Pawlenty, Senator Bachmann and the GOP should reevaluate their ties to this deceitful group to promote conservative religious principles. When it comes to bearing false witness, I hope that they’re against it.”