It is well established that public safety is the top
priority in Chico for this City Council election, and acknowledged by all that
Chico does not have enough police officers. Chico voters should be aware that every
candidate will want the voters to believe they support and/or have knowledge or
understanding about public safety issues, and policing specifically. Some of
the candidates will be able to easily establish that they know what is going
on...because they really do! They have taken the time to do their homework, to talk to people at all
levels of the Police Department, they have done ride-alongs with officers, and
they have studied the issues. Others, who by the way have already demonstrated
publicly that they don't have a clue or really even care about CPD or their
ability to do a good job, are going to have a harder time convincing the voters
they are supporters of public safety. Some of these have records of up to 12
years that clearly indicate an absence of support, and others have only
recently spoken publicly in such a way as to convey they don’t know what is
going on. The latter will resort to deception, like is described in the
following blog post from 2010, to convince voters they are connected and in
tune with law enforcement:
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Beware of paid slate mailers
By Josh Richman
Friday, May 28th,
2010 at 2:01 pm in 2010 election.
A copy of the “COPS Voter Guide,” a slate mailer urging
votes for certain candidates and ballot measures, recently landed on my desk,
reminding me how wary voters should be of such things.
Use of the word “COPS” in big print, and the badge logo that
accompanies it, seem to imply that law enforcement is endorsing these
candidates and measures. That’s not true.
The COPS Voter Guide is a business: It sells endorsements.
Its online “endorsement form” simply asks a candidate check a box to “agree
that public safety is a top priority for public service. As an elected
official, I will uphold the laws and work with California Law Enforcement on
issues of mutual concern. This pledge does not commit me to any issue
positions, nor does it mean that the COPS VOTER GUIDE agrees with me by
endorsing all of my issue positions.”
It’s run by Moran & Associates, a Folsom-based political
consulting firm; I left messages for company President Kelley Moran, but
haven’t heard back from him.
This one – designed for Democratic voters – looks to me as
if Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is the only candidate who
didn’t pay to be on it, as he’s the only one without an asterisk next to his
name; the mailer’s fine print says “Appearance is paid for and authorized by
each candidate and ballot measure which is designated by an *”
So the mailer urges the recipient to vote for Gavin Newsom
for Lieutenant Governor. Yet when I look at Newsom’s endorsement page under the
heading “public safety,” I see three firefighters’ organizations but not a
single police group. His rival, however – Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice
Hahn – has been endorsed by the Peace Officers Research Association of
California (PORAC), Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and several LA-area
police groups.
Similarly, Democratic candidate for Attorney General Pedro
Nava, an Assemblyman from Santa Barbara, is on the mailer. The only law
enforcement endorsements he lists on his website are Ventura County Deputy
Sheriff’s Association and the Ventura County Peace Officers Association, plus a
few local sheriffs and police chiefs. Yet Ted Lieu, the Assemblyman from Torrance
and one of Nava’s six rivals for the Democratic nomination, actually has the
endorsements of the California Peace Officers Association, the California
Police Chiefs Association and nine other law enforcement groups.
It’s not illegal for a candidate to pay a slate mailer for
an endorsement, or for a mailer to solicit such payments. But voters should
read the fine print and discern the endorsements that a candidate has bought
from the endorsements that a candidate has earned.
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Here’s the bottom line folks: It is a regular part of the
political process that candidates will use slate mailers like described above to
create perceptions about themselves. Usually, they are deceptive. In our local
race for the City Council, an experienced politician/incumbent (our Mayor) has
paid this very same outfit referenced in the blog above to have his name listed
with their logo in a mailer to Chico voters to create the perception he is supported by law enforcement and
that he supports law enforcement. Since he has established this race is about
“sides,” he has apparently persuaded the novices on his “side” to join him. In
the case of the mayor, his well established record of the last 12 years
demonstrates that he does not and has not supported the Chico PD or the
job they do. Sadly, the two newbies on his side have stumbled and bumbled as
they have feebly attempted to convey that they know about and/or support law
enforcement. As a result of this cumulative situation, with awareness of what
the top issue facing candidates in this election is, these candidates have had
to initiate an act of desperation to convince the voters they really support
public safety. Public records in the Chico City Clerks Office indicate they all
paid money to this outfit, and now that the mailers have been received we know
it was to get their names out their as supporters of law enforcement.
So what about the “COPS Voter’s Guide?” This is in fact a
front for a guy in Folsom, Ca who has spent the last 30+ years as a public
affairs and political consultant. He does not now, nor has he ever worked in public safety (although it appears he may have formerly had a public safety client who "discontinued their relationship" with him). He is also the owner of the “California
Energy Voter Guide.” With either one, it doesn’t matter what your party or what
your position on an issue is, if you pay him he will put your name on a flyer
and mail it to voters in attempt to create a perception in your favor as a
candidate. Research on this guy’s COPS guide in particular indicates that for
at least the last dozen years it is widely used to perpetuate deception in
elections.
If you receive one of these mailers locally, recognize it as a clue that the candidate(s) listed thereon either know nothing about public safety, they have demonstrated that they do not support the CPD and that if they are willing to resort to deception to convince you they are all about public safety, where else will they deceive you if they are elected???
If you receive one of these mailers locally, recognize it as a clue that the candidate(s) listed thereon either know nothing about public safety, they have demonstrated that they do not support the CPD and that if they are willing to resort to deception to convince you they are all about public safety, where else will they deceive you if they are elected???
