Your virally infamous Sam? Now show us what you've got Judy!

Mock Canadian Attack Ad of the Year
By ROBERT MACKEY
October 15, 2010

As Americans argue about the influence political attack ads made with secret special-interest money might be having on the upcoming midterm elections, a shadowy group in Canada has taken credit for trying to sway voters in a tight mayoral race in Winnipeg.

The makers of this Internet ad, featuring video of Winnipeg’s incumbent mayor, Sam Katz, accidentally kicking a child in the face during a soccer game, say it was paid for by a previously unknown group called “FOPATKITFOC,” or, “the Friends of People Against the Kicking in the Face of Children.”

The ad was posted on YouTube in August, the day after Mr. Katz was penalized for dangerous play during a televised soccer match pitting city officials against children from the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba. (The mayor’s young opponent reportedly suffered no serious injury from the badly-aimed kick.)

As a blogger for the Winnipeg Free Press noted, the play-by-play announcer’s call on the original footage of the game — “Oh! He’s booted him in the face in an election year!” — helped propel the mayor to viral infame within hours.

Reached by The Lede on Friday, David Leibl, a spokesman for Mr. Katz’s main opponent, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, said that her campaign was not responsible for the ad and had no idea who had made it. Mr. Leibl explained that “our campaign has respected the fact that it was an accident” and added that, although American political bloggers have drawn attention to the ad this week, “fortunately in Winnipeg the discussion has remained focused on more important issues,” related to the governance of the city.

The fact that a third version of the ad says that it was “paid for by Concerned Pediatric Orthodontists,” strongly suggests that it might be the work of a comedian rather than “Canada’s Karl Rove.”

On Thursday, the CBC reported that Mr. Katz, a successful businessman who opened his first retail store after dropping out of dental school, is “in a neck-and-neck race with Wasylycia-Leis as he seeks a third term in office,” in 12 days.