Cox accuses Snyder on attack ad

The saga of GOP gubernatorial candidates all accusing one another of being behind ads attacking them continues. Now it’s Mike Cox’s turn to accuse Rick Snyder of being responsible for a a radio ad attacking his role in the investigation of a party at the Manoogian Mansion in Detroit that resulted in the death of a stripper who allegedly performed at the party. The Detroit News reports:

Mike Cox’s gubernatorial campaign charged today a radio attack ad on the attorney general’s role in investigating an alleged party at the Manoogian Mansion was engineered by Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder, his rival in the governor’s race.

Snyder aides renounced the 60-second spot and denied the campaign had anything to do with it.

The commercial on Lansing radio today poses questions about why Cox “didn’t talk to a key witness” in the probe about a party at Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s city residence in 2002 and asked whether the party was “urban legend” as Cox has characterized it or whether the investigation was an “urban coverup.”

The evidence for Snyder’s involvement is pretty slim. The ad is sponsored by the Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, which backed John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid. The Cox campaign notes that some Snyder aides also worked for the McCain campaign. But if that’s all it takes to draw such a connection, perhaps it should be noted that Mike Cox was himself the original state chairman of the McCain campaign for president in Michigan.

Ironically, it is Cox who has been accused of being behind a number of attack ads, including radio ads and billboards, by other candidates in the race — including Snyder.

Meanwhile, the Bouchard campaign has hired a media consultant known for some of the most vicious attack ads in modern political history.