Van Hollen's new found concern for crime victims

It's just a little disingenuous for J.B. Van Hollen and his supporters to be crying foul about using a crime victim in a campaign ad isn't it? I know the long hours campaigns require can make your brain fuzzy, but is their memory so short that it doesn't even cover August of this year? From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 8/22/06:

ELECTION 2006; Candidates keep sparring over ads; Agent's slaying

Debate continued Monday about how a state Justice Department officer's murder is being used in the race for attorney general, with incumbent Democrat Peg Lautenschlager's campaign saying her Republican opponents hadn't responded properly to objections from the officer's family.

Republican candidates Paul Bucher and J.B. Van Hollen both have statewide radio ads that mention the murder of agent John "Jay" Balchunas in late 2004, but not his name. Last week, the Journal Sentinel reported that a DNA sample from a rape earlier that year wasn't matched by the State Crime Lab to the rapist for seven months and during that period the rapist helped kill the agent.

So Van Hollen thought crime victims were ok in campaign commercials when it benefited him, but now mentioning a crime victim is just outrageous.

And let's remember the justification Van Hollen's team offered for his ad. The same justification seems to apply to the ad he is complaining about this week.

Van Hollen campaign spokesman Brian Fraley said it was understandable that the family wouldn't want to be reminded of the killing, but he said the underlying issue is a relevant one in the campaign.

And Van Hollen's own words at the time ring true in this instance also:

Van Hollen said that too often crime victims can get caught in the bureaucracy, but he noted that one of the best ways to serve them was through better management of the Crime Lab to speed cases toward resolution.

Better management of the case the current ad is talking about would have helped as well. Better management will be needed at the DOJ than Van Hollen can offer.