The GOP candidate for Congress from Maryland's 8th District saysit was an opportunity he couldn't let pass. But incumbent Rep. ChrisVan Hollen said Charles R. Floyd's Web sites represent "a new low forpolitics in this area."
Repeating a tactic he used against his Republican primary opponentthis year, Floyd bought three Internet domain names with Van Hollen'sname and turned them into Web sites carrying unflattering commentsabout the freshman congressman's record.
One site, www.vanhollen2004.com, features a picture of a man in achicken costume challenging Van Hollen (D) to a debate and outlinesFloyd's campaign themes: that Van Hollen is weak on defense and asupporter of wasteful government programs.
A second site, www.vanhollen2004.org, shows "The Van Hollen 13-Point Pledge to the Voters," declaring that Van Hollen wants "theU.S. to be like France" and wants his "friends -- the liberal judges -- to push the social envelope for our society."
The third site, www.vanhollen2004.net, includes a picture of a busdestroyed in a suicide bombing in Israel and says Van Hollen is "morepro-terrorists than pro-Israel."
Van Hollen, who enjoys a large fundraising edge, called the sites"full of falsehoods." He predicted that they will backfire withvoters in the heavily Democratic district, which includes half ofMontgomery County and a small part of Prince George's County.
"I think people in this congressional district are going to beinsulted at the level to which their campaign has stooped," VanHollen said. "I have the benefit of representing a very educateddistrict and this kind of garbage, people can see through it."
Floyd said Van Hollen should have seen it coming.
"I feel if the congressman doesn't have the foresight to buy upcertain domain names with his name, does he deserve to be inCongress?" asked Floyd, a retired military officer and StateDepartment employee. "It was up for grabs, so I bought it."
Many candidates have created Web sites that could be misconstrued as an opponent's since the Internet became a factor in campaigns inthe late 1990s. The practice, called "cybersquatting," has createdheadaches for a number of politicians, including President Bush andformer California governor Gray Davis (D).
Consultants have been advising candidates to buy every possibleWeb address that includes their names even before they begin theircampaigns. Floyd, for example, says he bought up at least 50 domainnames.
Some political professionals expressed surprise yesterday that VanHollen would leave himself so exposed.
"It is a pretty big oversight," said Jeff Stanger, principal atNetCampaign, a Democratic Web consulting firm.
Van Hollen said he never thought his Republican opponent wouldresort to such tactics. "In this congressional district, campaignshave always been waged on a higher level," Van Hollen said.
But Floyd used a similar approach this year when his campaign setup the Web site robinficker.com to post disparaging things aboutanti-tax activist Robin Ficker, his opponent in the GOP primary.
Ficker filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to shutdown the site because it was deceitful. The judge ruled againstFicker, saying free speech rights precluded candidates from havingexclusive rights to their names.
"I just thought it was improper that someone could engage inidentify theft," Ficker said yesterday.
The Ficker site made no mention of who was behind it, but Floydhas included a disclaimer on the Van Hollen Web sites stating that itwas set up by the Republican's campaign.
Floyd said he established the Web sites because Van Hollen hasdeclined his invitation to debate. Van Hollen said they had twodebates and two more are scheduled. Floyd said those were candidates'forums and not real debates.
Van Hollen's campaign manager, Chuck Westover, said Floyd's Websites are "sleaze" and "immature politics," but he concedes that theyhave taught the campaign a lesson.
"We've already bought up a few [domain names] for 2006, so we donot have to deal with this again," Westover said.
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