The GOP primary race in the 7th congressional district has been largely civil between the two main candidates, former U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg and Iraq war veteran Brian Rooney.

But in the final days leading up to Tuesday's primary, both Walberg and Rooney have put out negative television ads attacking one another.

In Walberg's ad, it calls Rooney a "Pennsylvania lawyer" who thought about running for Congress in Florida and then decided on running in Michigan. To back up the Florida claim, the ad cites a statement from Rooney's wife Tiffany from last year, but doesn't say where she made it or to whom.

The ad also says Rooney inherited a fortune from his family's casinos and is "raising money from liberals."

It also hits back at Rooney for his recent mailers critical of Walberg for missing votes after he was defeated by Democrat Mark Schauer in 2008. Walberg explained to Rooney at a debate in Adrian he was having surgery.

At the end of ad, it calls Rooney "just another political opportunist."

Rooney's ad calls Walberg a "career politician" and criticizes him for having a golden retirement package. It says Walberg lives on a $50,000 "gold-plated taxpayer pension," and that "he wants to go back to Congress, where we'd pay Walberg 174 grand in salary, and we keep paying his pension too."

At the end of the ad, Rooney looks into the camera and says "it's time to take back our government from the career politicians."

The ads are running on local television now, but are not on either of the candidates YouTube channels.

"Walberg and Rooney have aired two ads apiece without ever mentioning the word jobs," Schauer's campaign spokesman Zack Pohl wrote in a statement. "I don't know what planet they're living on, but by ignoring the number one issue in this election, it's clear these guys just don't get it."

http://blog.mlive.com/jackson-politics/2010/07/gop_congressional_candida...