“Desperate candidates say desperate things when they find themselves lagging far behind their opponents, but Dana Murphy should at least get her facts straight.” - Rep. Rob Johnson

Literally, as soon as we posted the Dana Murphy piece, we received a press release release from the Johnson campaign refuting her claims. Saying that Murphy is playing “loose with the truth” and is trying to explain away her “fundraising failures” by “fabricating the facts.” Johnson says in his release that he showed nearly twice as much cash on hand as Murphy when he filed his fundraising report yesterday with the Oklahoma State Ethics Commission. Johnson had $251,981 to Murphy’s $128,458.

From the release:

“Dana Murphy’s campaign is using funny numbers and funny dates to make bogus claims,” said Keili Hicks, a spokesperson for the Johnson campaign. In an attempt to strengthen her own fundraising shortfall, Murphy argued that Johnson’s campaign had rolled over his State House account on April 30th.

Hicks said Murphy’s facts were clearly wrong. She says that Johnson launched his Corporation Commission account January 30, nearly three months earlier than Murphy falsely claimed.

“If there’s someone playing a shell game, it is clearly Dana Murphy who actually violated state ethics rules when she filed her report several days late during the January reporting period,” Hicks said.

“The biggest disappointment is that Murphy has violated Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment once again, which was to not attack a fellow Republican,” Hicks said.

“Dana Murphy should spend more time focusing on the needs of Oklahoma voters and less time on false negative attacks. Perhaps conservative Republican Party leaders should remind Murphy that our battle is with the liberal Democrat incumbent and not each other.