Randy Hultgren Confuses Opponent Bill Foster With Jamaican Politician Gary Foster

With Democratic veterans Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters facing ethics charges this summer, Republican candidates around the country are trying to capitalize.

So it's no surprise that Randy Hultgren, a Republican running in Illinois' 14th Congressional district, released a scathing press release last week accusing his opponent, Democrat Bill Foster, of taking donations from Waters.

"Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters has been charged with abusing her position of influence to steer bailout funds to a bank with ties to her family," the presser read. "Waters has given Foster at least $1,000.... By holding on to these dirty campaign contributions, Bill Foster is sending a clear message that he has no issue with the culture of corruption in Washington."

This might be truly damning stuff. If any of it were true.

In fact, the Foster who received at least $1,000 from Waters is Gary Foster, a charismatic politician from Jamaica.

The Foster campaign responded with a press release humorously entitled, "Hey Mon! You Got the Wrong Guy." It includes a picture of the two Fosters, captioned, "Hultgren Campaign Apparently Believes Jamaican Man on Left Represents the 14th District of Illinois."

When asked about the gaffe, the Hultgren campaign blamed the Federal Election Commission. The FEC website, a Hultgren spokesman told the Batavia Sun, erroneously showed the donation going to Bill Foster, not Gary.

A recent search of the FEC website shows no such donation. And the Foster campaign replied that Hultgren should have done a better job fact-checking before going on the offensive.

No word yet if Hultgren still wants Gary Foster to return the donations.