The campaign of 25-year-old California congressional candidate Ricky Gill is accusing Democratic-aligned trackers of stalking him after uncovering several YouTube videos showing the Republican candidate being secretly followed.
The footage shows Gill walking in the hallway of his law school, and also showed his car and home. The videos have since been removed from the video-uploading site, but Gill’s campaign saved the footage and provided a compilation to The Daily Caller.
“This kind of behavior is out of bounds,” campaign spokesman Colin Hunter told TheDC on Wednesday afternoon. “It is much more accurately characterized as stalking than tracking.”
Campaigns and political organizations use trackers armed with cameras to follow opposing candidates to public events in hopes of catching them in an embarrassing moment.
It’s not clear who produced the videos of Gill. The campaign of Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney — who represents the state’s 9th congressional district — denied any role.
“Nothing to do with the campaign,” spokeswoman Lauren Smith told TheDC in an email.
The congressman, however, has utilized trackers before: A 2008 news article on Recordnet.com discusses how McNerney hired a tracker to film “public appearances, hoping to get ammunition against” his opponent.
Representatives for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the liberal group American Bridge — the George Soros-funded group that sends trackers to follow Republicans — did not respond to inquiries asking them if they are behind the videos.
American Bridge — an organization started by the liberal activist David Brock, who also created Media Matters for America — has also waded into the race, launching a website mocking Gill for his young age.
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