A ‘POLITICAL SMEAR’
Morse assails Neal over allegations; Neal denies any involvement in it
Congressional hopeful Alex Morse, facing allegations of acting inappropriately toward college students, defended his actions and called the claims against him a “backroom coordinated political smear” during a debate against his opponent U.S. Rep. Richard Neal.
But Neal, a longtime Western Massachusetts incumbent, denied that he had anything to do with the allegations surrounding Morse.
UMass Amherst is looking into allegations from three college groups, most prominently the UMass Amherst College Democrats, who claimed the Holyoke mayor’s actions “made young college students uncomfortable” through his actions and via social media.
“As a human I would never want to make someone feel uncomfortable, and I need to honor that truth,” Morse said during the debate.
“But then I come to find out over the last week that this was a backroom coordinated political smear against our campaign by folks that support this congressman’s campaign,” Morse added.
Morse, the Holyoke mayor, has been trying to turn the allegations of impropriety around on Neal, accusing the congressman of covertly orchestrating the story. But Neal on Monday insisted that’s not the case.
“This is inconsistent with my career and it’s inconsistent with my character to have raised these sorts of issues,” Neal said. “These students have stepped forward. They should be heard.”
Morse has continued to refer to articles in the leftwing publication The Intercept that suggest that at least one of the college students involved in the story was a fan of Neal, but the article does not show any collusion with the Neal campaign.
Neal denies any connection to the students behind the allegations. His campaign insists that the students highlighted in The Intercept stories have had “no involvement” in the campaigns and have never worked for Neal.
“I don’t even know the names of the students that have stepped forward,” Neal said.
“Again, that had nothing to do with my campaign. Period,”
the congressman later added.
Morse last week wrote to the college Democrats that he has “regret” that he “made anyone feel uncomfortable.” The openly gay mayor also thanked them for condemning any homophobic criticism of him.
“I will not apologize for being a young person, for being gay and for being single and having consensual adult relationships with other adults,” Morse said during the debate.
Morse’s campaign received an outpouring of financial support in the days after the college Democrat groups’ claims, raising $257,000 from more than 7,500 donations in seven days — his best fundraising week yet, according to his campaign.
UMass Amherst has retained Boston attorney Natashia Tidwell to conduct an independent review of the allegations concerning Morse, a former adjunct faculty member at the university.