Republican governor candidate Bob Sullivan couldn't even wait for the ink to dry on his pledge not to break Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment -"Thou shou not speak ill of another Republican" - before releasing a television ad questioning Congressman Istook's record on fiscal issues. As noted above, Istook voted in favor of the line item veto last night. We broke this story yesterday before anyone in the media. Sullivan is handing out pink pig piniatas to highlight the ad's dubious claims of Istook being a "big spending liberal". Sullivan must have read the same article we link to in the next post that details the popularity of conservatism among Oklahoma's voters. While Sullivan maintains that he did not break the pledge, his new ad appears to do exactly the type of negative campaigning that State GOP Tom Daxon hoped to avoid in the Republican Primary. In the letter that accompanied the pledge, Daxon outlined what would be acceptable and unacceptable conduct for those who sign the pledge. Specifically, Daxon says that “It would not be acceptable to say my opponent is a big spender who likes to waste money on worthless programs." Sullivan’s ad, which refers to Congressman Istook as a “liberal big spender,” is nearly word for word of what Daxon deemed unacceptable content. Daxon has yet to denounce Sullivan’s ad. Posted at 6/23/2006 10:40:00 AM