Martha Dean, the endorsed Republican candidate for Attorney General, escalated her war of words with primary opponent Ross Garber Wednesday, threatening - without explicitly promising - to sue Garber for defamation over what she says are factual errors in his campaign mailings.
Garber touched off the dispute last week with a glossy, mass-mailing to registered Republicans. In it, he delivered a photo mélange of drugs and drug paraphernalia under the headline: "Martha Dean wants to decriminalize heroin and cocaine use."
Dean flatly denies the assertion and denies ever specifically mentioning heroin and cocaine in a political discussion. She says she has called decriminalization of drug offenses an issue worthy of discussion, particularly as courts and prisons are overwhelmed by drug offenders and law enforcement reallocates limited resources to anti-terror efforts.
Garber had no immediate response.
Dean started talking about unspecified "legal action" against Garber earlier in the week.