Richard Callow, campaign manager for Slay, dismisses the accusations -- and says that the Reed camp should be focused on challenging the incumbent at this stage in the race.
He says, "It just seems to me that it is probably insulting to assume when there are two black candidates that one of them must be a stalking horse."
Matthews, who we recently interviewed for a post published this morning, has repeatedly pushed back against the stalking horse allegations; in a debate last week, Reed and Matthews argued back and forth about this very accusation.
What does Nasheed have to say about the latest spat sparked by her comment?
She argues that Reed is very aligned with Slay, and that if voters really hate Slay, they should just vote for Matthews. She is referencing a central attack point against Reed, that he never distinguished himself from Slay in any substantial way -- until he decided to challenge him.
"All those things they accuse Slay of, Reed can be accused of the same thing," Nasheed says. "Over 90 percent of the time, he was with the mayor [on the Board of Aldermen]."
She says, "If you're mad at Slay, then you have to be mad at this guy."
Nasheed adds, "If you don't like the white man...the next best thing will be Jimmie Matthews, because he's never done any of those things."
Burleigh fires back: "Lewis Reed is by far the more progressive candidate. No question about that."
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