A political flyer mailed to Bristol homes last week surprised a lot of people — including the two people with their names all over it.

Neither Laufton Ascencao nor Andy Tyksa knew the flyer encouraging votes for the former and attacking the latter, would be arriving in local mailboxes.

Mr. Ascencao and Mr. Tyska are opponents in the race for state representative in District 68. They face each other in a Democratic primary next Wednesday, Sept. 12.

The flyer features a portrait of Mr. Ascencao beside four hot-button political issues — birth control, guns in schools, abortion and equal pay for women. Through bold, green check marks, it claims Mr. Ascencao will fight on the correct side of those issues.

On the opposite side, it features a faceless caricature of a man in a suit, above Mr. Tyska’s name and the claim: “A ‘rubber-stamp’ for political bosses.” It places red X’s next to Mr. Tyska on all four of those same issues.

It encourages votes for Mr. Ascencao.

The opposite side states that Mr. Ascencao “stands with Rhode Island families,” while Mr. Tyska “stands with the State House’s political bosses.”

The flyer was paid for by the R.I. Values Project, led by Linda Finn, a former Aquidneck Island state representative. It reports its top donors as Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island and the R.I. Coalition Against Gun Violence.

“I definitely didn’t send that mailer,” Mr. Ascencao said. “I was not aware of it. I had no warning.”

He acknowledged that the obvious assumption is that he’s behind it. He’s not, he said.

Nonetheless, he believes the questions it raises are valid, especially because Mr. Tyska has made donations to Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello’s campaigns in the past.

“I think it’s telling that groups like the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence and Planned Parenthood are this concerned about his closeness to Speaker Mattiello,” Mr. Ascencao wrote in an email. “I’ll be honest, I’m worried about his relationship with Mattiello as well. I’ve never seen a plausible explanation for his thousands of dollars in donations to Mattiello and his inner circle … One thing is for sure you won’t see the speaker supporting my campaign and I’ll never support him."

Mr. Tyska refutes the claims in the flyer as well as Mr. Ascencao’s questions about his allegiance to House leadership.

“Everything in that postcard was a lie,” Mr. Tyska said. “I believe Laufton when he says he didn’t know anything about it … But it was sent to sway voters to vote for him, and not me, and it’s based on lies.

That type of flyer is bad for our democracy.” 

He said accusations that he’s aligned with House leadership are also false.

“Yes, I supported Speaker Mattiello, as I’ve supported other Democrats. But I’m not beholden to him,” Mr. Tyska said. “You don’t become beholden to someone by supporting them. You become beholden by taking something from them. I haven’t taken anything from him.

“In fact, I differ from him on many things. I support the line item veto. I’m not always in agreement with him on the way he leads and many of his positions."

A cookie-cutter attack

The R.I. Values flyer mailed to Bristol homes is not the only one of its kind. A nearly identical mailer — with identical language, design, check marks and claims of someone being a “rubber stamp for political bosses” — was mailed to Barrington homes last week, also paid for by the R.I. Values Project. The only difference was changing the names.

Instead of boosting Mr. Ascencao’s campaign, it praised fellow Progressive Democrat Liana Cassar in her race for House District 66. Instead of Mr. Tyska, it attacked Democrat John Chung, who is opposing Ms. Cassar.