Lincoln Republicans: Spying or Lying?

Not content with the success of their unprecedented Blitzkrieg-style bombardment of former City Councilman Terry Werner before the general election two weeks ago, it has been discovered that 10 days later the chairman of the Lancaster County Republicans sent a childish and gloating message to Werner that demonstrates the very worst of his party's mentality.

This insulting "gotcha" letter caps off their well-coordinated campaign of character assasination, showing the full lengths to which the Republicans were willing to go to win. The Lincoln Journal-Star reports:

Ten days after the May 3 election, the chairman of the Lancaster County Republican Party sent an e-mail to ousted City Councilman Terry Werner in which he taunted Werner for losing his council seat and said "having a private eye follow you was a joy."

Haga's e-mail read, in part: "Let this be a wakeup call to you. The voters of Lincoln wisely rejected your socialist agenda. If needed, we could have addressed your driving record (having a private eye follow you was a joy), . . . and more. Had you been a good Democrat and not a socialist, you might have been re-elected."

Chairman Jim Haga acknowledged to a reporter Tuesday he wrote the e-mail "in anger" but said he regretted it. Haga declined to comment on whether he hired an investigator, saying, "I'm not going to address that . . . To me it's not even a news story."

He wrote the message "in anger"? Anger for what - his mother not loving him enough? They'd ousted Werner, so I can't imagine what would have had Haga in such a tizzy unless his troubled conscience demanded that he fabricate some sort of justification for his despicable actions.

Haga goes on to attempt worming his way out of responsibility for the e-mail, claiming it was all an elaborate ruse. Get a load of this:

Later in the day, Haga told the Journal Star editor that he did not hire a private eye but put that in the e-mail because he knew Werner would take it to the press and the Journal Star would write about it — proving the paper's bias. When asked if he lied to Werner to try to prove a reporter's bias, he said, "I guess I did."

Oh, that's rich - and the Roman's crucified Jesus to prove there was an Easter bunny. What a pathetic low-life regardless of which version of his story you choose to believe. If I was a Lancaster County Republican, not only would I be asking for my money back if it's gone towards efforts such as this but also for part of my soul.

Meanwhile, Werner may be gone from office but his legacy of passion and integrity lives on. His only words to the City Council at Monday's farewell meeting were, "It's been an honor. Thank you."

For more, today's Journal-Star ran a column by Werner about the above controversy while also extending his many thanks to his constituents. Classy to the last, he will be missed.