A campaign staffer for Republican state assembly candidate Mark Pazin apologized Wednesday for falsely accusing opponent Esmeralda Soria of accepting donations from former Congressman TJ Cox, who was indicted on 28 federal charges the day before.

Pazin’s campaign sent out an email Wednesday morning blasting Soria, a Democrat on the Fresno City Council, for accepting donations for her assembly campaign from Cox.

“TJ Cox has donated hundreds of dollars to Soria’s Assembly campaign and she needs to return it if she has a shred of decency,” Jordan Dennision, Pazin’s campaign manager, said in a news release. “You shouldn’t run for public office to represent hard working taxpayers if you keep campaigning with money from a criminal.”

But it wasn’t true.

After inquiries from The Bee on Wednesday, Dennison later issued an apology.

“I apologize for the error which was regretfully made in haste,” Dennison said. “Nonetheless it says a lot how close ex-Congressman Cox is to Soria and we are closely watching how it all shakes out.”

Later Wednesday, Soria’s campaign responded to the false allegations in a statement that also condemned Cox and criticized Pazin.

“Whether Pazin’s campaign was blinded by incompetence, malicious intent, or an unhealthy obsession with Cox, Pazin was wrong to blast false claims to reporters and district voters that TJ Cox ‘donated hundreds of dollars’ to our campaign with no proof,” said Josh Pulliam, a consultant for Soria’s campaign. “In fact, campaign...

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