The National Republican Congressional Committee released a television ad in San Diego today that is filled with outright lies and a blatant disregard for the truth that is breathtaking even for the Republican Party.

The ad represents a new low for a party that had pretty much plumbed the depths of sleazy political dirty tricks. Unlike 2004’s Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry, this ad comes directly from the Republican Party. This ad couldn’t have hit the air in San Diego without the approval of county Republican leader, Ron Nehring.

Lies and liars……………

This ad is filled with such massive lies and slanderous statements that any honest Republican should disavow it on sight. Here are the lies and some of the direct repudiations from the Busby campaign.

The ad contends that while Busby was a member of the Cardiff School Board district deficits “skyrocketed by over 250%.”

The reality:

By law, California School Districts are required to adopt a balance budget.  They are also required to maintain a reserve equivalent to 3% of total expenditures and other outgo in a reserve.  In the time Francine has been on the School Board, Cardiff Schools have never allowed their reserve to dip below 5% – two full percentage points higher than the state mandates.

The ad contends that “Busby voted to layoff teachers but gave raises to administrative bureaucrats.”

The reality:

Busby Voted For A Pay Raise For Employees Who Had Not Seen A Salary Increase For Years. Francine never voted for a pay raise for herself. She voted for a pay raise for “certificated management employees” because they had not received a pay raise for years prior. The vote for the 3% salary increase was a unanimous decision by the school board.

This was a pay increase for school workers who hadn’t seen a raise in years. This was a raise for clerical workers and janitors, people working with students and parents every day. Hardly bureaucrats.

Like most school districts in the state in 2003, the Cardiff district faced the prospect of massive budget cuts. By law the district had to inform teachers of the possibility that teaching positions would be reduced. It was the same requirement that school districts all over California had to deal with.

In Spring of 2003, the state was proposing “devastating” budget cuts that were translating into massive layoff notices being given across the state. Statewide, “more than 10,000” teachers were “given notice that they may be layed off in the fall.” The Contra Costa Times wrote, “Years of work to boost education spending and recruit credentialed teachers could be wiped out as school districts across the East  Bay and state brace for devastating cuts amid continued uncertainty as to how deep state budget reductions will be.”

The most egregious charge made by the slimeballs at the NRCC is the implication that Busby is soft on porn because at one point in time she said something positive about a teacher who was later “reported to have child porn.”.

The reality:

Francine Busby and the Cardiff School Board took immediate action to get the teacher in question out of the classroom and away from Children.

How desperate must the Republicans be regarding this race? This new attack ad is nauseating in its reliance on plain and simple lies.

The Busby campaign has challenged Brian Bilbray to repudiate the slanders being promoted in support of his campaign. How he responds will tell us a lot about the true nature of Brian Bilbray.

Representative John Doolittle (CA-4) continues to blame the media for his relationship with convicted felons such as Jack Abramoff and soon to be indicted co-conspirators such as Brent Wilkes. According to Doolittle the media is to blame for his sweetheart deal with his wife that moves 15% of all campaign and PAC contributions directly into his bank account.

Doolittle met with a group of Orange County Republicans this week and according to conservative blogger, Jon Fleischman, he wowed the crowd. Fleischman says that Doolittle claims to be under a….

…relentless barrage by the media (he equated it out to an equivalent of over a million dollars being spent against his re-election). He said that he enjoys debates over issues and ideas (he wishes someone would take him on for being against illegal immigration) — but these are attacks on baseless ethical charges.

Does Doolittle Pass the Smell Test? More follows.

Of course Doolittle would rather talk about immigration than Abramoff or his wife’s cut of his campaign contributions. What is sad is that Republican conservatives would rather join corrupt politicians like Doolittle in blaming others than do something to clean house in their own party. According to Fleischman the Orange County Republicans all had the same thoughts after their meet and greet with Doolittle.

I think that everyone at the event had the same feeling that I did – gee, I wish this could be my Congressman — he’s great! (Well, my Congressman – John Campbell – is great, too). Ken Campbell, Aaron Park and all of my other Placer County friends are lucky to have John Doolittle as their U.S. Representative.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is the Washington Post. Today in an editorial, the Post suggests that Doolittle’s 15% cut of all campaign funds is just plan wrong.

Imagine that every time members of Congress received a $1,000 campaign contribution, they could skim $150 off the top and put it straight into their personal bank accounts. Sound shady? That is, in effect, how Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) and his wife, Julie, operate. According to our review of campaign finance records, Mrs. Doolittle has received at least $215,000 from Mr. Doolittle’s various campaign committees since 2001. This doesn’t include $6,800 in payments to another of Mrs. Doolittle’s companies, Events Plus, before she started doing his fundraising work. She’s taken in nearly $100,000 during the 2006 campaign alone.

The Post has a single line comment that sums up how most normal people respond to a deal like Doolittle’s.

The arrangement couldn’t smell more.

Apparently, to conservative Republicans Doolittle smells just fine. I guess after 5+ years of the Bush Administration Republican noses aren’t very sensitive anymore.