Group maintains they are not ‘responsible’ for fliers
Deceptive mailers which may have swung Santa Monica’s vote on the living wage have been linked to the measure’s opponents, despite their prior denials of involvement.
State campaign disclosure forms list FAIR — Fighting Against Irresponsible Regulation — as the main source of funding for three, last-minute mass leaflet mail-ings which appear to have misled voters.
One controversial mailing, under the heading “Democratic Voters Ballot Guide For Santa Monica,” listed “No on JJ” beside a checked box, beneath the Democratic candidates for governor and other state offices, Congress and city council. However, the Democratic Party said it endorsed JJ, the living wage ordinance, which was narrowly defeated Nov. 5.
The mailers were sent in the name of groups created shortly before the election by two well-known conservative and pro-life campaign strategists — James V. Lacy and William Lord-Butcher —based in Orange County.
FAIR is listed by the California Secretary of State as the only donor for three “slate mailers” in question that were sent to thousands of Santa Monica voters just days before the Nov. 5 election. Slate mailers are created by for-profit companies that sell space on the fliers to candidates and causes as an inexpensive way to reach potential voters. Some candidates pay for space, while others don’t. The result can be deceptive, since the “No on JJ” movement paid for its listing while candidates appearing above it did not.
In this case the mailers — which featured numerous Democratic candidates and causes which didn’t pay to appear there — were created days before the election and mostly paid by money from opponents of Santa Monica’s proposed living wage law.
When the leaflets began appearing in mailboxes across the city, FAIR spokesman Seth Jacobsen said the the group was neither “responsible” for them nor “affiliated” with the groups that sent them.
And FAIR officials still maintain they didn’t create or sponsor the groups that sent the mailers to residents.
“It’s a separate company,” said local land use attorney Tom Larmore, who is on FAIR’s steering committee. “We didn’t send them out. We paid to be on them, just like other people did.”
It appears there were no donors other than FAIR that contributed over $1,000. Donations of less than $1,000 aren’t required to be reported under state law until Jan 1.
FAIR paid $14,000 to appear on the Pro-Choice Voters Guide, $13,000 for its placement on the Quality Schools Coalition and $12,000 for the Democratic Voters Ballot Guide. Each appeared to suggest that Democrats, or proponents of quality schools and women’s rights to choose, should oppose the living wage proposal because each of those groups did. One mailer contained the statement, “Santa Monica’s Pro-Choice Leaders Agree: No on JJ.” The “Pro- Choice Ballot Guide” was created Oct. 28, about a week before the election. And the “Quality Schools Coalition,” which apparently opposed JJ, was created only three days earlier.
It costs approximately $17,000 to $20,000 to send a plain mailer to every registered voter in Santa Monica. Based on that, some political observers say the amounts paid by FAIR could reasonably send each flier to targeted groups of roughly 30,000 voters — for example, Democrats, or those who favor quality schools and women’s choice.
Last year, the Santa Monica City Council adopted the “living wage” ordinance that would have required businesses near the coast with annual revenues in excess of $5 million to pay their workers a minimum wage between $10.50 and $12.25 an hour, depending on whether workers also received benefits. But before it took effect, local business interests won the right to put the measure to a citywide vote.
After a multi-million dollar campaign, largely fought through mailed leaflets and editorial pages, the ordinance was narrowly defeated 13,930 to 12,990 — a margin of 940 votes, or 51.7 to 48.3 percent.
The campaign supporting passage of the living wage ordinance — Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism, or SMART — attributes its narrow loss to the mailers. Shortly before the election, on Oct. 25, a SMART poll showed likely Santa Monica voters favored the measure by a 19 percent margin.
“This was an effort by very corporate and conservative causes to kill the living wage,” said SMART spokesman Danny Fein-gold. “We believe it’s critical people know the facts about how they were deceived.”
“This was an effort by very corporate and conservative causes to kill the living wage.” — — DANNY FEINGOLD SMART spokesman
State law requires slate mailers identify those candidates and causes which pay to appear on the flier with an asterisk. The law also requires a prominent disclosure noting that causes and candidates appearing on the mailer are not representative of any political party or candidate endorsement. In this case, the disclosures appear in small print at the bottom of the mailers. The disclosure notes that, for example, the mailer doesn’t “imply” the Democratic Party endorsed a no vote on JJ. But the mailer, by listing a slate of candidates and naming the political group to which they belong, appears to do exactly that.
The mailers note that someone also paid to back Measure EE, a $300 parcel tax to benefit the school district. Measure EE campaign manager Denny Zane said his group didn’t pay to appear on the mailers in question, though they did pay to appear on other slate mailers.
FAIR campaign officials say they didn’t pay for Measure EE to appear on the mailer, though under state law it appears it would have been legal for FAIR to pay for both causes’ appearance.
The firm hired to create the slate mailer told FAIR officials other candidates and causes had paid to appear on the flier, though it was never asked who else would appear.
“We get solicitations to be on slate mailers all the time, and I can’t be expected to remember the circumstances of each one” said Lee Stitzenberger, president of the Westwood-based Dolphin Group, the campaign consultants in charge of FAIR’s campaign to defeat the living wage ordinance. “But I would be surprised if we were the only donors.”
The Dolphin Group — known nationally for producing the Willie Horton ads for President George H.W. Bush — was paid more than $24,000 in October alone for its work on FAIR’s million-dollar campaign.
The first piece to appear was from “The Quality Schools Coalition,” which urges voters to approve education bonds under state Proposition 47, Proposition 49 and vote yes on Measure EE. The last line reads, “Vote no on Reduced Funding for Schools and Youth Programs: Vote No on Measure JJ.”
The second was from the “Pro-Choice Voter’s Committee,” which advocates a Democratic state-wide ticket, yes on the local school parcel tax and no on the living wage ordinance. The flier states voting no on Measure JJ would “… stop discrimination and protect vital city services including women’s health services.”
The last of the three fliers was the “Democratic Voters Ballot Guide,” which favors a straight Democratic ticket, a yes on the school parcel tax and no on the living wage. The flier states that Measure JJ would “eliminate jobs for our young people, eliminate jobs for our poorest people (and) eliminate health and other social services for women.”
Supporters of the measure say the mailers are clearly deceptive because the state Democratic Party and several local and state educators endorsed Santa Monica’s proposed living wage ordinance, which had nothing to do with education, youth or women’s services.
The tactics used in the mailers are completely legal under state law, according to political observers.
When the “Democratic Ballot Guide” piece hit mailboxes on the afternoon before polls opened, the state chair of the Democratic Party, Art Torres, and Santa Monica’s Congressman, Harry Waxman, issued statements denouncing the flier and reiterating their support for the proposed living wage ordinance.
As it turned out, if voters began evenly divided about the measure, the mailers needed to sway only 1.7 percent of them — 471 out of 26,920 voters in Santa Monica’s 66 polling precincts — to defeat JJ. Some argue having Measure EE appear on the mailer as a paid participant helped the “No on JJ” campaign’s legitimacy on the fliers and may have helped persuade voters to vote against the living wage ordinance.
“Obviously they are using EE to add legitimacy to No on JJ,” said election law attorney Fred Woocher. “Putting the asterisk on there may make some people think those that support EE oppose JJ as well.”
The mailers were sent from groups that were officially created less than a week before the election — the Quality Schools Coalition was formed on Oct. 25, while the Pro-Choice Ballot Guide and the Democratic Voters Ballot Guide were created on Oct. 28, according to the documents.
Lacy and Lord-Butcher — who created the apparent dummy committees backing Democrats, pro-choicers and quality schools — weren’t available for comment Wednesday. Lord-Butcher is credited as being the “father of the slate mailer,” and Lacy worked in Ronald Reagan’s administration. Both are considered tops in their field.
It’s not unusual for conservatives, such as Lacy and Lord-Butcher, or liberals to send out slate mailers advertising their opponents’candidates and causes alongside their own measures, political experts said.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy and it’s misleading, but it’s the First Amendment,” Woocher said. “It’s sort of caveat emptor — voters have to beware.”
“It’s the height of hypocrisy and it’s misleading, but it’s the First Amendment.” — — FRED WOOCHER Election law attorney
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 21, 2002. Read the original PDF.