What led you to write your new book, “Confessions of a Political Hitman,” which chronicles your rather unsavory career as a Republican Party operative who was hired in hundreds of political campaigns to dig for dirt on Democraticcandidates?
I wouldn’t use the word unsavory. The voter has the right to know the history of any candidate in order to make the most educated vote.
Why do you make yourself sound as benevolent as a reference
librarian?
Because opposition researchers perform a needed public service.
In the 2000 election, you produced an infamous anti-Gore commercial, juxtaposing footage of Gore saying
I happened to have gotten some footage from some anti-Sharpton groups where he urged college students to kill cops: to off the “pigs,” as he put it.
How can you justify misrepresenting Gore like that?
I’ll admit that the ad was nasty and negative, but it was accurate, just like the Willie Horton ad that finished off Dukakis.
Who paid you to make the commercial?
Some folks in Tennessee who didn’t like Al Gore.
How do you sleep at night?
Very well, thank you.
Seriously, do you have any moral qualms about the work you do?
No. Negative politics have been going on since the beginnings of our democracy, when politicians had shootouts to settle their differences.
What’s interesting is that negatives played no role in giving a win to
Barack Obama
I doubt it. Negative campaigning is part of American politics’ collective DNA.
Are you well paid for your work?
Let’s just say “over six figures.”
You claim to have helped elect Republicans including President Bush,
No. Researchers are not usually hired by the campaign. We are more often hired by consultants or attorneys or others working for the campaign, so that we won’t come up in the candidates’ F.E.C. reports.
It is often said that the Republicans are better at negative campaigning than the Democrats.
I don’t think that’s true. Look at the 2006 election. When you look at the tight races, the stuff that they killed
They didn’t kill him. He self-destructed. They didn’t need anyone to dig up the word “macaca.” He said it.
But the Democratic research people were smart enough to have some kid with a camcorder to go out and film it. That’s also part of research, following the candidate when he is preaching to the choir. That’s when they say stupid things.
Where are you from?
I grew up in Brooklyn, in one of the most hard-core Democratic districts in the country. Fortunately, Reagan showed me the light, and I was converted.
What did your parents do?
My father was a school principal, and my mother taught special ed.
Have you sent them a copy of your book?
No. Not yet. I’m a little nervous about how they may react to the personal content.
Yes, you do write about an alarming number of one-night stands.
That’s kind of trashy-sounding. I would prefer to say I haven’t yet found the right woman to settle down with.
You claim in your book that your oppo days are over, and you’re “retiring from politics.”
I still have my business, Kingfish Consulting, but will leave the opposition-research work to others.
So you’re not really out of the oppo business?
I’m out. I want a calmer, more normal life, not looking through countless records just to find that some candidate has a porn-related Web site.
INTERVIEW CONDUCTED, CONDENSED AND EDITED BY DEBORAH SOLOMON
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