State rep candidate to manage campaign

SWAMPSCOTT – Democrat Lori Ehrlich, who is running for the 8th Essex District seat, will manage her own campaign effective immediately.Sometime over the weekend, Ehrlich severed ties with Ryan Adams, who was named her campaign manager last week following the primary.Last Thursday, Ehrlich’s campaign Web site listed her campaign manager as Adams, who is a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and had been working in her campaign field operations for a period of time.Adams, who has a political blog, is best known for the controversial anti-GOP campaign videos he produced last year and posted to YouTube, one of which attempted to link Healey and Republicans to slavery and the Confederacy. One of the videos was accompanied by lyrics which include, “There’s no need to join the Klan just become a Republican” and “give a gun to every man.”Last Thursday, after being contacted by the media, Adams deleted his YouTube account and removed all of the videos from the Internet.Ehrlich initially defended the videos as “satire” but on Monday she issued the following statement.”Literally hundreds of talented volunteers have come forward to help with this campaign,” she said. “One of these volunteers, a 23-year-old, recently found himself in the line of fire for a video that he made almost two years ago. I do not defend or endorse the content of the video and he has stepped down by mutual agreement.”Prior to hiring Adams, Swampscott School Committee member Shelley Sackett was Ehrlich’s campaign manager. According to Ehrlich, Sackett stepped down after the primary due to time constraints.At that time, Ehrlich said with less than a month until the election she needed someone who was able to make a full time commitment, which Sackett was unable to do.Despite the recent controversy, Ehrlich said she would continue to move forward with her grassroots campaign.”There are three weeks to go before the election and our campaign strategy remains the same,” she said. “We’ll be knocking on doors, making phone calls, meeting voters and talking with them about the issues that are important in this race.”Ehrlich, Republican John Blaisdell and Independent Mark Barry will vie for the 8th Essex District seat in the special election on March 4.