Ald. Anthony Beale lashes out at President Obama's commitment on guns in 2nd CD race

An apparently frustrated Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) released a campaign statement today saying that President Obama “needs to stand with us in Chicago,” on gun violence.

The statement appears to reflect frustration from a campaign that feels snubbed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s SuperPAC, Independence USA, which has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars to back candidate Robin Kelly instead of Beale in the race for Jesse Jackson Jr.’s old seat.

In all, the political action committee has committed $2.1 million to the race and has spent much of it blasting frontrunner Debbie Halvorson’s position against an assault weapons ban.

Beale: “understands Mayor Bloomberg’s passion for gun control. What the campaign doesn’t understand is selecting one candidate out of a field of 17. Especially, when one of the candidates is an elected official in the Chicago City Council currently and the other candidate hasn’t been in office since 2006,” a statement released by Beale’s campaign staff said.

In an unusual turn for a candidate seeking election next week in a heavily African American District, the Beale statement, released Tuesday, went on to question President Obama’s commitment to reducing gun violence.

“All of my opponents are saying I will stand with the President, but President Obama needs to stand with us in Chicago,” Beale says in the statement. “We never stopped fighting this fight.”

It then cites a series of articles that question Obama’s past positions on gun control, then points back to Beale: “By comparison, Anthony Beale’s record on guns is the strongest and most consistent of anyone in this race for the 2nd CD.”

That includes Christian Science Monitor article in September 2012: In making that comparison (gun control records of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney) Obama has only ever signed laws “expanding gun owners’ rights.”

“It’s not so shocking then that the Brady Campaign “gave Obama an F” in January 2010,” Beale’s statement concludes.