LINCOLN- A flyer that landed in northeast Lincoln mailboxes last week accusing a legislative candidate of trying to “radically transform” the state itself radically transformed the person it was attacking.
So much so that the mailer attacking George Dungan, who will square off against Russ Barger for the District 26 seat in November, features two black-and-white photos of shirtless men who are not Dungan.
The public defender who ran second in the primary said the mailer, which states it was paid for by Nebraska Federation for Children, was "misleading and deceitful" in several ways.
While it features a photo of the actual Dungan on one side, it also takes aim at Dungan for attending American University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a law degree after graduating from the University of Kansas.
And it states he supports an environmental policy that would purportedly raise taxes and drive up energy costs, as well as prohibiting businesses from asking about criminal history when hiring.
“It is clear that they do not know my position on any issue, considering they do not even know who I am or what I look like,” Dungan said.
Barger, reached by phone, called the mailer “super tacky” and said he was not involved in its creation, nor did he give it his approval.
Dustin Rymph, the shirtless man depicted on one side of the mailer, was shocked to discover himself on the mailer. Rymph, a former Lincoln resident, is an old friend of Dungan's. "My reaction was," said Rymph, "That's not George, that's me."
The mailer was paid for by Nebraska Federation for Children, a Nebraska affiliate of the larger American Federation for Children founded by former education secretary Betsy DeVos.
Lauren Garcia, Nebraska state director for American Federation for Children, responded to the incident by claiming the photos, which were pulled from Dungan's personal account, appeared "without indication that it was someone else."
"It is reasonable to conclude the photos posted by Mr. Dungan are of himself," Garcia went on to say.
Rymph confirmed that the photos of him were in no way inappropriate, and were instead taken in front of the Nebraska plaque on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. "It was over 100 degress out," stated Rymph.
The second photo, which depicts Rymph sitting upon a toy horse, was meant to be a "goofy photo."
"Everybody has goofy photos," stated Rymph, "that they took when they were in their early 20's."
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