Kress mailer riles gun owners group, Guy :: 11/04/2019

A gun owners organization and Sheriff Tony Guy claim Democratic challenger Wayne Kress is misleading voters with a mailer claiming the group’s recommendation in Tuesday’s general election.

This mailer from Democratic sheriff challenger Wayne Kress that includes a recommendation from Firearms Owners Against Crime has drawn criticism from the group and Sheriff Tony Guy because the recommendation came in the primary and FOAC has endorsed Guy in Tuesday’s general election. (Below the Kress Mailer is a 'screen shot' of the FOAC Voter's Guide for Beaver County, ed.)

A statewide gun rights organization and Republican Sheriff Tony Guy are accusing Democratic challenger Wayne Kress of misleading voters in a general election mailer by touting a recommendation from the primary, but Kress said the allegations are “dirty politics.”

In the mailer that landed late last week, Kress notes his support for the Second Amendment and says he “is Firearms Owners Against Crime (FOAC) recommended.”

FOAC president Kim Stolfer, though, said in a statement to The Times that Kress “is in no way shape or form recommended nor endorsed by FOAC in the Beaver County sheriff’s election on Tuesday.”

Kress was recommended by FOAC in his Democratic primary race against former Sheriff George David, but Guy has the group’s endorsement for Tuesday.

“This should come as no surprise to Wayne Kress because he knew that he was not recommended by FOAC in the general election for sheriff,” Stolfer said, “yet he still put out this misleading mailer four days before the election.”

Stolfer blasted the mailer as “a pathetic last-minute attempt to win some votes.”

Guy said the mailer “is just another example that Mr. Kress ignores facts, mangles the truth and now misuses his recommendation from his primary race against George David.”

Kress called the allegations from Stolfer and Guy “dirty politics” and claimed they are “in cahoots” together. “This is just more political dirty tricks to try and salvage (Guy’s) campaign,” Kress said on Saturday.

After getting the FOAC’s recommendation in the primary, Kress said he was never told that the status changed. “I have never gotten a letter saying that I’m unrecommended,” he said.

And, Kress said, his views have not changed from the spring. “There’s not anyone who is more pro-Second Amendment than me,” he said citing his participation in pro-gun rights rallies in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

Kress also said he did not get another questionnaire about the general election because he was told FOAC’s policy is that an incumbent candidate who supports the Second Amendment automatically gets the endorsement.

“Who does that?” he asked.

https://www.timesonline.com/news/20191102/kress-mailer-riles-gun-owners-group-guy