Merkley Campaign's Maxwell Smart Move

Here's a perfect example of why they call political campaigns the "silly season."

Willamette Week is covering a real Spy vs. Spy caper wherein an overzealous 20-something paid staffer for the Jeff Merkley campaign tried to infiltrate the Steve Novick for U.S. Senate headquarters by "volunteering" under a fake name.

Whoops! Multiple people recognized him from some Merkley events. There's even a photo available on the internet of him working one.

Adding to the fun; this isn't the first time this same scenario has happened in the Democratic primary race.

From Beth Slovic's Willamtte Week post:

Back in January, you may recall, Eugene’s Register-Guard reported on a staffer with the National Republican Senatorial Committee who used a fake name in order to snoop on the campaign of Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, who’s running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

BlueOregon, predictably outraged by the Republican invasion, riffed on the scandal with a headline that screamed: “Busted! GOP tracker lies about identity, gets caught.” [Which inspired our own headline above.]

Back at the Register-Guard, a Merkley spokesman groused about the deception. “[T]here’s an honest way to do it, and there’s a dishonest way to do it,” Russ Kelley told the Eugene paper. “You find out where they are through public notices and things like that. You don’t call and misrepresent yourself ... And you especially can’t do that and get caught.”

What's the Merkley campaign's take when one of its own staffers is caught doing the same thing.

"It was a mistake," said Merkley spokesman Matt Canter says. "He's 22 years old."

And How does the Novick campaign feel about the Merkley camp's fledgling Maxwell Smart?

Rather than be annoyed, the Novick campaign is bemused. “This might be the place where I beat my chest and demand apologies,” says Jake Weigler, Novick’s spokesman. “But it just seems silly.”

That's for sure. And on that note, please enjoy this short video to mark the occasion: