Tag Archives: democratic voters choice

California

R Dirty Tricks at the local level

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(Some edits for space. “Democratic Voters Choice” has been one of the more egregious abusers of the slate mailer process. Come next December, it’s time to reform the slate mailer process. Thanks bolson! – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Here we have a big fat lie that came in the mail recently:

The actual candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party are Janet Wolf for Supervisor and Cynthia Brock and Margaret Connel for Goleta City Council.

Brian’s edits: Click the image for full size image. You’ll notice that this “team for Democratic voters” also supports Prop 90 and Rejects Prop 87, both positions are the exact opposite of the Official California Democratic Party’s actual positions

The small print at the bottom says:

Democratic Voters Choice, 601 S. Glenoaks, Burbank CA 91502. Ballot measures and non-partisan offices evaluated independent of party. Not paid for or authorized by candidates and ballot measures not marked by an *. Endorsements by elected officials and organizations apply to spefiied candidates and measures only.

Take out the double negative and we find that someone associated with the three local candidates and * marked initiatives paid for and/or authorized this mailer. It would seem that Secord, Onen and Bennet paid for and authorized this lie. I hope some clever lawyer can sue their fraudulent asses off – or if they somehow claim plausible deniability at least shut down “Democratic Voters Choice” which has run these shenanigans before. Another example over the flip.

Here’s another piece currently circulating from “Democratic Voters Choice”:


This one gets all the state wide candidates right, but lies about the ballot initiatives. The lies being paid for are: No on 1A-1C (CA Dems say yes), No on 87 (CA Dems say yes), Yes on 88 (CA Dems say no), Yes on 90 (CA Dems say no).

I have my own opinions on the ballot initiatives (yes on 87,89 and Santa Barbara D and P, no on the rest) but I really hate dirty tricks.

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Slate mailers — pay for play on 87

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(These slate mailers have deliberately deceptive names. There should be no place for that in a serious political debate. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Each year, around election time, my mailbox fills up with “slate mailers” — glossy mailers endorsing a whole pile of candidates and propositions.  These mailers are sent by groups with names like “Democratic Voters Choice” or “Citizens for Good Government”

Unfortunately, their names often have little to do with their real purpose.  Instead of being sensible efforts to inform citizens, many slate mailers are actually extortion rackets — pay us, or we’ll endorse the other side.  By producing an ostensibly “Democratic” ballot slate, but with reversed endorsements on a few races, these mailers trick voters into casting votes they wouldn’t have done if fully informed.

Last year, the big buyer was PhRMA, trying to prevent Californians from passing a measure which would have cut drug prices and hurt their profits.  This year, it appears to be the “no on 87” crowd, who want prevent Californians from taxing oil to pay for a renewable energy investment.


To date, I count the No on 87 crowd as having made the following expenditures:

The only “yes” endorsement I found on a slate mailer was on the Cops Voter Guide — at the cost of $100,000.

Undoubtedly, there are other examples of pay-for-play endorsements in slate mailers going on out there.  All you need to do to find them is to go look, and pay close attention to who sent that mailer which appeared in your mailbox.