Martin apologizes to Daskas, camp cries foul over Carpenters’ meeting

LAS VEGAS-Earlier this week, Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidate Andrew Martin apologized to Robert Daskas, the other Democrat in the race, over the phone for a "mistake" in a press release last weekend attacking Daskas' performance at a Carpenters' Union endorsement meeting in late March, according to Martin spokesperson Vin Gopal.  Today, Martin's campaign had more to say about that meeting, however, alleging that Jim Sala, the carpenters' Nevada political director, played favorites at the meeting and spread "misinformation" about Martin to other committee members.

Martin's press release last Saturday read that "In a recent meeting with the Carpenters Union, Mr. Daskas arrived over 20 minutes late and continued to ask his campaign manager for answers, question after question, during the endorsement meeting."

In a Tuesday article by PolitickerNV.com, Sala disputed that version of events, saying that Daskas only looked to his campaign manager once, and then only for a "completed" answer to what other endorsements he has received.

"Andrew Martin did have a conversation with Mr. Daskas to apologize about that point," said Gopal today.  "That was the information that we had from the members who were there, but that one point was refuted.  That was a mistake on our end."

"We do stand by the other points that Sala did lie-directly lie-about Andrew Martin's background and some other stuff; he did talk about him prior to the endorsement meeting to everybody in the room."

Gopal declined to go into specifics about Sala's "lie[s]." 

Martin campaign manager Becky Isais did specify Sala's "misinformation," however, saying that Sala had told the members that Martin "isn't even a resident here" and "doesn't even own a home here."

Martin, according to Isais, owns two residences in Southern Nevada.  The first is a condo in the first tower of the Signature at MGM Grand, which Martin purchased in 2005 but couldn't occupy until its completion in 2006.  The other, which Isais referred to as Martin's primary residence, was purchased in 2007 and is in the 3rd Congressional District.  The condo is in Nevada's 1st District. 

"[Sala] chose his candidate before this," said Isais, "and it wouldn't have been a problem if he had just been straight up and been honest."

To back up their claims, Martin's campaign put PolitickerNV.com in touch with Dan Kowal, a member of the carpenters' political action committee.  Kowal said that he felt there was "animosity" toward Martin from Sala and said that Sala's "making these accusations prior to an endorsement meeting" and "ridiculing Martin after" was "wrong and bordering illegal."

"I'm sure, from the bottom of my heart that these people have already dedicated their endorsement to Daskas," said Kowal.  "They're just going through the formalities more or less to satisfy the union."

Kowal said that he is remaining neutral, but described Martin as "way qualified."

"He's got the credentials, he's got numbers," said Kowal, "he's got everything that I need to support this guy."

As before, Sala took issue with the Martin campaign's version of the events and described himself as "surprised" to hear their claims.

"I didn't speak with Dan Kowal prior to the meeting or anyone else, and I didn't ridicule anybody before or after," said Sala.  "We did ask [the candidates] some questions about where people were from, where their money was coming from, but that's the kind of discussions we have to have about candidates.  I don't think that was ridiculing people."

Kowal's other complaint about Sala's handling of the endorsement meeting was in regard to Daskas' tardiness, saying that Sala should have ended the meeting when Daskas did not arrive in time.

"Why would I do that?" asked Sala.  "How would that have benefitted my members?  Daskas wasn't really that late.  We asked him to be there fifteen minutes early to watch a video, but he was probably ten minutes late from when the interview was supposed to start.  Why would I not let the members and the interview committee have a chance to listen to all three candidates?"

Sala added that even had he ended the meeting, it would not have meant that either Martin or Congressman Jon Porter, who were on time for their meetings, would have necessarily received the carpenters' endorsement.

"It's not automatic," said Sala.  "We're not going to endorse someone just because they showed up.  That's not the qualification for the endorsement."

Sala also said that Kowal, who is a longtime friend of Isais,' had shown a "pre-bias" toward Martin before the interview.

"Kowal was the only person in the room on the interview committee to express a preference for Mr. Martin in the interview process," said Sala.  "He had had conversations with [Isais] and, I think, the candidate prior to going into the interview, which under most circumstances I would probably have excluded him from the process had I known it."

"I don't want this to become a war with those folks," Sala added, "but I think it was in pretty poor taste, the press release that they put out, to begin with.  Tell me what you're going to do and how you're going to be a congressman and what your qualifications are.  Don't tell me what's screwed up about everybody else.  That's not how you get our endorsement."

Sala expects the union to make their endorsement decision in "about a week."