According to the owner Mayflower RV, an Arkansas business that was devastated when tornadoes ripped through his county in April, Senator Mark Pryor’s reelection campaign taped a campaign commercial on his property under false pretenses.
Rep Tom Cotton (R-AR) accused the Pryor campaign of reaching a “new low” for promising the tornado victim help, and then reneging on the promise.
Doug Boydston, the owner of Mayflower RV, claims that the Pryor campaign contacted him with an offer to assist him with the cleanup efforts at his lot, which has been covered with storm debris since Mayflower RV was destroyed in April.
Boydston says he was told that Senator Pryor would be there, as well as the Mayor of Mayflower, and Pryor’s Republican challenger, Rep. Tom Cotton, and that they would “shoot some footage” and see if there was any way they could help him get his place cleaned up.
But instead of assisting him, the Pryor campaign showed up on Mr. Boydston’s property to film an attack ad against Tom Cotton, ironically slamming him for not helping Arkansas’ tornado victims. The Pryor campaign posted the ad on Vimeo earlier this week, and Boydston is demanding that he take it down.
Boydston told local radio personality Paul Harrell that the rep from the Pryor campaign later tried to tell him it was all a misunderstanding but Boydston insists he was blatantly lied to.
Via The Cotton Campaign press release:
Mr. Boydston is sending Pryor’s campaign a letter today demanding removal from Senator Pryor’s website of any and all footage obtained on his property. In the letter, which can be viewed here, Mr. Boydston says:“You obtained this footage under false pretenses, and I demand that you remove these videos and immediately stop all use of the raw footage. Neither you nor any outside group has my permission to use my property for your own gain.”
“When you called me to request permission to hold an event at Mayflower RV, you told me that Senator Pryor and Mayor Holland would be present at the event to help bring attention to the tornado devastation and help me ‘clean up.’ Believing this, my wife and I invited a large group of friends to meet Senator Pryor and take part in the conversation about recovery.”
“Shortly after your campaign’s arrival, we realized the truth, and we asked you to immediately pack your equipment and leave. Had we realized your actual intent was to film a political ad, we would have rejected your offer and certainly would never have invited friends to attend such a farcical event.”
In light of Senator Pryor’s shameful deceptions, Mr. Boydston has offered his support to Tom Cotton in the race for U.S. Senate. Mr. Boydston has offered to place large signs along his property, which is clearly visible from Interstate 40 traveling in the westbound direction.
Cotton spokesman David Ray said: “Spreading falsehoods about Tom Cotton’s voting record is one thing, but lying to a tornado victim in order to film an attack ad on his storm-ravaged property is a new low. Senator Pryor should apologize to Mr. Boydston, remove the video filmed at Mr. Boydston’s property from his campaign website, and agree to appear before voters to have a fair and honest debate with Tom Cotton about the real issues in this race.”
Doug Boydston told his story on the Paul Harrell Program:
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