Senate candidate says he’s enraged by report that he disparaged Hillary Clinton’s looks.
John Spencer says he may sue the New York Daily News for reporting that he called his rival Hillary Clinton ugly. Speaking to the Resident this morning, the underdog senate candidate said the story splashed on the cover of Monday's paper had sabotaged his campaign. “It was a total fabrication and a bold-faced lie,” he said.
Spencer, a Republican, suggested that the newspaper targeted him because of sympathies for the Democrat Clinton. The reporter of the story Ben Smith might be taking cues from Clinton aid Howard Wilson, Spencer said. “Journalism is in such a poor state in the United States to begin with, you know, with the Dan Rathers and that Blair who used to be with the New York Times,” he said, referring to two reporters whose ethics were questioned in recent years. “People are getting away with writing lies about other people. There’s got to be a stop to this thing.”
Spencer said Smith had earlier portrayed him unfairly when he was writing for the New York Observer. “But I didn’t say anything about it,” he said. “I just read it and said, ‘This guy must be a loose canon or something, I don’t know.’”
Spencer spokesperson Rob Ryan lodged a formal complaint with the Daily News yesterday. When asked if he might pursue legal action, Spencer said, “Yep. I’m looking into it.” Smith responded to Spencer’s denials in his blog: “I stand by the story, and it's entirely accurate,” he wrote.—Mike McPhate
