Conor O'Callaghan is throwing shade at CD1 opponents. Most of it has no merit

Conor O'Callaghan has thrown sharp elbows at the other Democratic hopefuls in the Congressional District 1 race.

Understandable given it's a crowded field of six candidates and not much difference in general policy positions.

With a little more than a month before early voting begins for the July 30 primary election, it's crunch time for candidates to break away from the pack and win the party nomination to take on vulnerable Republican incumbent David Schweikert.

The swipes make good sound bites in televised debates, but they could end up working against O'Callaghan.

They should also be taken with a grain of salt or two.

Much of the shade is tossed at top rivals

Especially given the attacks are directed at the three candidates who pose the biggest threat to him scoring the nomination — former broadcast journalist Marlene Galán-Woods, former legislator Amish Shah and former state Democratic Party chair Andrei Cherny.

O'Callaghan's dig at Cherny for being "under federal investigation" is especially fraught.

The company Cherny co-founded to fight climate change, Aspiration, is under federal scrutiny over whether it “misled customers about the quality of the carbon offsets it was selling.”

Federal authorities haven't disclosed much, although a ProPublica exposé in 2021 knocked the eco-friendly company for distorting how truly free of "fossil fuels" ties its mutual fund was and exaggerating the number trees it claimed to have planted in persuading banking customers for donations to offset their carbon footprint.

What if employer's troubles were used to taint him?

O'Callaghan should appreciate accusations of deceptive marketing. A financial company he worked for the better part of a decade was caught up in a yearslong investigation by federal regulators over misrepresentation on pricing to customers.

It led to dozens of counts in a few criminal and civil trials of his bosses and colleagues, though practically all of them ended in acquittals and overturned convictions. The company agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars in civil penalties.

A couple of Democratic activists on social media have made hay of O'Callaghan's employment with the company.

And more are wondering aloud whether he's behind negative texting campaigns that mirror his public put-downs of Galán-Woods and Amish Shah as one-time Republicans and are thus unqualified to be the Democratic nominee.

The smear of Shah, Galán-Woods as Republicans

O'Callaghan's attack on Shah is particularly weak.

Shah admitted to having registered as a Republican in 2016 to vote in the GOP presidential primary but said he did so strategically to help the Democrats. It's not unheard of for voters to switch registration to knock off or advance a rival candidate.

Regardless, Shah has five-plus years' record as a Democratic lawmaker that voters can judge him on. Nothing lets on he's somehow a sleeper agent for Republican causes.

The slam of Galán-Woods similarly falls flat. Her late husband, former state Attorney General Grant Woods, was of the moderate Republican contingent, a number of whom have become independents or Democrats post-Trump. Whether she came late on the scene of championing Democratic causes is another question.

A candidate's legitimacy doesn't rest on a purity test in party registration.

The amped-up personal attacks overshadow a robust second televised debate on Wednesday in which the candidates more sharply defined themselves and their stances for undecided voters.

The candidates of CD1 – and voters – deserve better

O'Callaghan has proved to be a polished and serious candidate, both at fundraising and messaging. That he's one of the front-runners even though he was not among the three candidates the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee invited to schmooze in D.C. late last year is telling about his prowess.

And most of the six boast solid backgrounds and achievements. Half of them have political experiences of varying levels.

The attacks might work with a few voters, but ardent Democrats who turn out for primaries probably prefer not to give Schweikert ammunition in the general election. They want to know what issues or substantive traits separate the six CD1 candidates.

Not the one who can sling mud best.

Reach Abe Kwok at [email protected]. On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Conor O'Callaghan's 'disqualifications' of CD1 rivals are laughable