Rich Donor Rejects Ads on Jeremiah Wright

Conservative Joe Ricketts dismisses them as divisive
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2012 3:20 PM CDT
Rich Donor Rejects Ads on Jeremiah Wright
Ameritrade chairman and founder Joe Ricketts.   (AP Photo/Dave Weaver, File)

Jeremiah Wright may not be making an appearance in the 2012 election after all. A New York Times story today created a buzz because it said billionaire conservative donor Joe Ricketts was considering an ad strategy to go after President Obama's old ties to the volatile minister. Today, Ricketts issued a statement via a spokesman rejecting the idea, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Not only was this plan merely a proposal ... it reflects an approach to politics that Mr. Ricketts rejects," said the statement. Ricketts will try to help defeat Obama, it adds, "but his efforts are and will continue to be focused entirely on questions of fiscal policy, not attacks that seek to divide us socially or culturally." Mitt Romney, too, dismissed the idea, notes Politico. "I want to make it very clear, I repudiate that effort," he said. "I think it's the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign. I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future and about issues and about a vision for America." (More Joe Ricketts stories.)

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