New negative ads airing in AG race
In two new TV ads, a father calls an AG candidate’s complaints about the state’s opioid lawsuit insulting to the memory of his son, Austin Box, the star Sooner football player who died of an overdose in 2011.
“He needs to know our story,” Craig Box said of candidate Gentner Drummond.
“He needs to know about Austin Box and look me in the eye and tell me that he’s doing it for the right reason ‘cause I don’t think he can,” the father said.
Attorney General Mike Hunter’s campaign began airing the two 30-second TV spots Wednesday across the state.
Hunter sued Purdue Pharma LP and other opioid manufacturers last year on behalf of the state. He is accusing them in the civil case of hiding the true addictive nature of their products in order to make billions of dollars from sales.
Drummond has sharply criticized
the AG for choosing three contributors to be the state’s outside attorneys on the case and for setting no limit on how much they can make.
In a 30-second TV ad that began airing Tuesday in Oklahoma City, Drummond’s campaign denounced the contract with the attorneys as a political payoff.
“Hunter signed the deal days after huge contributions to his campaign,” one narrator said in the ad.
“Opioid crisis victims lose. Taxpayers lose. Mike Hunter’s political cronies win millions,” another narrator said. “It’s time to stop insider deals.”
Drummond’s campaign also mailed out a new flyer critical of the contract. “More SCANDAL and CORRUPTION from the STATE CAPITOL,” the flyer states.
The negative ads are the latest in a race that has been bitter from the beginning.
Hunter led the Republican primary election in June with 44.46 percent of the votes. Drummond was second with 38.45 percent. A third GOP candidate had 17.09 percent.
The runoff election is Aug. 28. The winner faces Democrat Mark Myles in November.
Austin Box was a linebacker at the University of Oklahoma. He died on May 19, 2011, after spending the evening with a friend in El Reno playing video games. He was 22.
He had taken antianxiety medication and five different kinds of prescription painkillers, a medical examiner found. His death was ruled an accident.
In the new TV ads, Craig Box, an Enid attorney, praises Hunter for being “relentless” in going after opioid manufacturers.
“If Gentner Drummond gets into office, I believe this opioid lawsuit will be derailed. It will cost Oklahomans their lives and Mike Hunter is trying to do something about it,” Craig Box said.
In a longer online version of the ads, Craig Box said Drummond’s attack on the lawsuit “makes me sick.”
“He’s obviously doing it to simply get elected,” the father said.
In a response Wednesday, Drummond disputed that he will derail the lawsuit.
“I have stated consistently that I will vigorously pursue the opioid lawsuit,” he said.
Drummond last complained about the opioid lawsuit in July, saying the state’s outside attorneys could make $100 million in legal fees from their no-bid “golden” contract.
He has promised to force those attorneys to renegotiate the contract once he becomes AG. He repeated that promise Wednesday, saying, “I will not tolerate such an outrageous cost to taxpayers.”
Hunter has defended his choices for legal representation, saying he picked two of the state’s most successful lawyers to lead the case.
Hunter also has said the lead attorneys, Michael Burrage, a former federal judge, and Reggie Whitten, are committed to the fight because of personal tragedies.
“They are pouring their hearts and souls into this case because they want the deaths of their loved ones to mean something,” Hunter said in June.
Both Burrage and Whitten have told The Oklahoman they won’t get paid anything unless the state recovers damages. Each gave Hunter’s campaign $2,700 in May.
Craig Box knows Burrage personally from their work together on a high-profile divorce case.
Whitney Box, the sister of Austin Box, called Drummond “morally reprehensible” for attacking Burrage and Whitten.
“I can’t even imagine going after somebody who has suffered like they have and who are fighting the fight,” she said in Hunter’s online ad.
$643,666 spent
Also getting involved in the AG race again in a big way is a national group, the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Through an Oklahoma PAC, the national group spent $643,666 in August to produce and run independent TV, radio and digital ads in support of Hunter, reports show.
Hunter is described in the ads as an attorney general who puts Oklahoma first. The ads also state he stands with President Donald Trump.
In June, the national group had $438,135 in independent expenses in support of Hunter, reports show.
In a response Wednesday, Drummond described the Republican Attorneys General Association as a Washington, D.C., special interest group. He said it gets funding from “opioid manufacturers and distributors that are being sued by other states, but not by our attorney general.”
“If you wonder why Oklahoma has not filed action against these bad actors, just follow the money,” he said.