Republican attorney general candidate Doug Wardlow is a serious man waging a hard-hitting campaign against the Democrats’ Keith Ellison. The Wardlow campaign has released the tough ad below, dubbing the Democratic candidate “Extreme Ellison.” I judge that to be an exemplary deployment of truth in advertising.

Stephen Montemayor takes up the advertisement in the Star Tribune story “Keith Ellison talks labor, unions in Rochester as Doug Wardlow attacks him in TV ad.” Even the headline is pathetically skewed.

I got to know Steve professionally during the trial of the “Minnesota men” in federal court here in 2016. Packed into the press row Judge Davis had set aside for media during the trial, we frequently sat next to each other. Citing “Can Keith Ellison turn lawman?,” I wrote Steve last night:

Steve, you write: “Ellison participated in a 1992 rally for United for Peace, a group aimed at curbing gang violence. Some linked to the coalition were later implicated in the murder of Minneapolis police officer Jerry Haaf. Ellison also spoke at a 2000 fundraiser for Sara Jane Olson, a federal fugitive who later pleaded guilty to putting pipe bombs under police cars.” it isn’t apparent to me that you have any idea of what Keith Ellison has said on behalf of cop killers. I forward you this piece I wrote for the Weekly Standard that was posted online on August 15. Now that Ellison seeks to become the top law enforcement officer in the state of Minnesota, it would be nice if the relevant facts saw the light of day in the Star Tribune before November 6 — don’t you think?

Scott Johnson

That wasn’t entirely a rhetorical question, but I in any event I haven’t heard back from Steve. We can only draw inferences. Via Twitter, I also offered Steve my Ellison/Nation of Islam file yesterday (below, sorry for the typos). He hasn’t responded to that offer either.

Steve, you can have my file on Ellison’s long membership in the Nation of Islam hate cult. No lawsuit necessary. I think Minnesotans would find it of interest before November 6. https://t.co/kZBjfOyndN — Scott Johnson (@scottwjohnson) October 10, 2018