Espresso Pundit posted on a very interesting development in the CD 8 race. Toni Hellon, CD 8 candidate Mike Hellon’s ex-wife and a State Senator, filed an injunction against Bill Arnold, CD 8 candidate Steve Huffman’s campaign treasurer who’s notorious mainly for scumbaggery around some crooked Amphi School District land deals, for harrassment and reputational harm related to the web site HellOnToni.com.
There was already a smoldering feud between Mike Hellon and Huffman because Huffman was planning a State Senate primary challenge of Toni Hellon before Kolbe retired. Now, the smart money is on absolute fireworks. This story is so sexy that I can’t imagine it not becoming a major focus of coverage of the Republican primary. [UPDATE 8/22: Coverage has already started at the Citizen.}
Huffman is likely to get the sharp end of the stick while Hellon gathers the sympathy vote via his ex’s plight. Huffman is already as popular as an atheistic abortionist among GOP primary voters. This bit of foul play, combined with his negative hits and push polling of Graf (some of it centering ironically around Graf’s choices of campaign employees), along with the lingering suspicion that he is the ultimate author of the Weiss push poll, is likely to attach such a stink to him that his own mother will be embarrassed to admit she voted for him.
Kolbe’s nod and lots of money can only accomplish so much. In the end, the voters still have to look at themselves in the mirror on the 13th, and Huffman hasn’t been nearly artful enough at cynically concealing his Machiavellian streak and sheer will to power.