Will Ainsworth, a candidate in the Republican runoff for lieutenant governor, on Monday released a letter from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office that offers conclusive proof he was never arrested in that area as his opponent has falsely claimed in television and radio ads and mass mailings costing thousands of dollars.
“You have NO record of arrest/confinement at Jackson County, Alabama Jail. Per the Circuit Clerk’s Office, you have ONE Citation/Ticket in the year 2001 for operating an unregistered boat,” the letter from Jackson County Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen reads.
(Photos of the letter and a maliciously false mailing from the Twinkle Cavanaugh campaign are attached with this release.)
Ainsworth said he appreciates the clarification by the Jackson County sheriff and noted that the false attacks and lies indicate more about his opponent’s character than his own.
“If we can’t trust Twinkle to tell the truth as a candidate, how can Alabamians ever believe a word she says as an elected official,” Ainsworth said. “As a career politician and a product of the Montgomery swamp, she has based her entire campaign on lies, deceit, and dirty tricks in hopes that some of her false attacks will stick. I have confidence that Alabama Republican runoff voters are too smart for her dirty tricks.”
Ainsworth said the Jackson County incident involved a simple ticket he was issued for piloting a friend’s unregistered boat while in college in 2001.
Cavanaugh’s campaign has also alleged that Ainsworth was once arrested for the theft of $15,000.
In truth, Ainsworth participated in a college prank roughly 20 years ago when he and his classmates ‘kidnapped’ a fiberglass tiger that the Auburn Chamber of Commerce had placed downtown.
To illustrate the dishonesty and absurdity of his opponent’s attacks, Ainsworth barnstormed the state on Monday with with a life-size fiberglass tiger statue and a motorboat during a pre-runoff “Truth Tellin’ Tour.”