95 percent accurate*
The Ventura County Star's Sacramento Bureau Chief Timm Herdt on state issues and politics from Sacramento to Ventura County. He can be contacted at therdt@venturacountystar.com.
The Ventura County Star's Sacramento Bureau Chief Timm Herdt on state issues and politics from Sacramento to Ventura County. He can be contacted at therdt@venturacountystar.com.
Question: What can a voter expect in an Assembly district in which five candidates, four of them at least moderately well funded, are running against each other and every one of them on the major issues is Democrat Pure?
Answer: Negative campaigning as a means to draw distinctions among the choices.
That's the likely scenario in the 41st Assembly District, but the three major candidates all told me this week that they won't be the one to start slinging mud.
Barry Groveman: "It's not going to be coming from me."
Julia Brownley: "I won't throw stones."
Kelly Hayes-Raitt (whose consultant is Richie Ross): "I know Richie's reputation, and Richie knows mine. Richie knows that's not me."
One candidate noted that attacks can be very risky in such a split field because even if you succeed in driving support away from a given candidate, there's no guarantee those defectors will move to you.
Still, Groveman reports that a telephone push-poll of unknown financing is already in the field, planting questions about Groveman's integrity and calling into question his credentials as a pollution-fighting environmental lawyer. "People are spreading all sorts of rumors," he said. "It's mean-spirited."
The dynamics of the race would seem to invite independent expenditure campaigns, which could step in to do the dirty work. Expect it.
Posted by Timm Herdt at March 21, 2006 3:58 PMThat's interesting that Groveman thinks that somebody paid for a push poll. If anybody was out there talking about Groveman's environmental record this early in the campaign, I would bet that it was environmental groups talking to their memberships.
That said, Groveman gives the environmental groups ample fodder. And as the following LA Times article shows, it's not rumor that his environmental loyalties are divided. Whatever credentials Groveman has as a pollution-fighter, he also has impressive credentials as a corporate polluter defense lawyer as well. The Times article quotes Groveman making excuses for his client, a major chemical manufacturer, on the heels of Groveman's client facing charges on 15 violations of California hazardous waste laws. His client, Leoronal, chose instead to pay what was then a state-record hazardous waste settlement. Here's the article:
http://pinedaconsulting.com/documents/polluter_defense.pdf
Posted by: Andre Pineda at March 22, 2006 9:15 PM