Orange County Elections : Political Mud Flies Through the Mail in a Last-Minute Effort to Inflict Damage

The white-and-burgundy-colored brochure mailed to 197,000 Orange County voters Saturday delivered a powerful message that might influence any California election: “Bradley Jacobs--the county assessor--did not support Proposition 13.”

But the statement was false, according to a finding Saturday by the county Fair Campaign Practices Commission. In the waning hours before Tuesday’s primary election, there was little Jacobs could do except convey the news to reporters.

Also on Saturday, voters in the 40th Congressional District received mail from the campaign of Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), attacking GOP primary opponent Nathan Rosenberg for allegedly working in the Carter Administration. In fact, Rosenberg was at one time a military officer assigned by his superiors to work for Harold Brown, former President Jimmy Carter’s defense secretary.

Finally, Santa Ana voters this weekend received a slick red-and-black brochure bearing the headline: “If Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley was alive and living in Santa Ana, he’d support Measure C.”

Inside, readers were urged to vote against the measure, which would have councilmen run in wards instead of citywide and would add a mayor that would have veto powers and would be chosen by voters instead of the council.

The brochure alleged that “people who liked Mayor Daley’s style of political corruption and cronyism are working hard to bring it to Santa Ana.”

But nobody knows with certainty what Daley would think. He died 10 years ago. When asked, members of the Good Government Committee could not name Measure C supporters who have said publicly or even privately that they admired Daley’s political practices.

The Holbert, Badham and anti-Measure C brochures exemplify the 11th-hour “attack mail” that has become prevalent in California political campaigns. Typically, such mail gives opponents little or no time to respond and can have a major impact on close elections.

Not surprisingly, there is strong criticism of such mailers.

“People are sick and tired of this stuff,” said Evelyn Mayberry, a member of the county’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission.

But the mail is staunchly defended by the political consultants who produce it.

Mark Howell, the consultant who has engineered Holbert’s campaign, said: “The reality is and the research shows that it (attack mail) is rather widely read by the general public. It’s the people who are involved in campaigns who say that they don’t pay attention to it, or that they’re tired of it.

“When Joe Sixpack gets mail, he probably reads it closely, because Joe Sixpack, unlike some people in business, doesn’t get a lot of mail. “You don’t need to have the voter read everything. A picture or a phrase may be enough.”

Howell and other consultants concede, however, that some attack mail exaggerates and deceives.

“That is part of advertising,” Howell explained. “You take something that is very small and blow it up out of proportion. We are not dealing with reality. . . . We’re dealing with the perception of reality.”

He added: “The reason you advertise in the last minute is because that’s when people are making their minds up.”

Indeed, pollsters say that in some elections 50% or more of the electorate may be undecided until balloting actually begins. This is especially true for nonpartisan offices that are found toward the bottom of the ballot.

And political consultants said the 11th-hour attack mail is aimed precisely at those people who are still wavering. The mail doesn’t often persuade voters to change their minds.

Howard Adler, former county Democratic chairman and political consultant, said attack mail is frequently used because “it can’t be answered effectively. You usually save the hits (campaign mailers) for last because of the resulting outrage that occurs.”

Also, he said, “people like to believe the worst about politicians, and these hits reinforce that concept.”

Finally, “deep down, in their own guts, political consultants can’t believe they can win without destroying the credibility of the opponent, and they believe the opponent is going to do that to them,” Adler added.

Timing Is Critical

Many consultants believe that attack mail generates a backlash mainly when it is distributed a few days before an election and opponents have time to respond.

Adler cited as an example a mailer sent by former Santa Ana councilman Al Serrato in 1982, during Serrato’s campaign for the Democratic state Senate nomination.

Serrato portrayed one opponent as a woman dressed in Vietnamese pajamas who was friendly with Asian refugees in the district. He misnamed his other primary opponent in a way that made it seem that the opponent was Mexican-American.

Adler says the piece was delivered too soon, even though the election was less than a week away. There was still enough time for local Democratic Party officials to organize a special campaign ethics panel, which condemned Serrato’s mail as “racist.” Serrato lost the primary.

But generally, said Adler, “the level of research and accuracy is not important to a campaign manager. . . . You leave yourself just enough of an out, so that you can say a hostile interpretation of the language in a campaign piece is not what you’re saying.”

Harvey Englander, the political consultant who designed the anti-Measure C mail for the Santa Ana Good Government Committee, said attack mail “is the product of creative minds of a few consultants who try to create advertising that sells, in an environment of masses of information bombarding the target audience.”

Such pieces are often based on preelection voter surveys. For example, Englander said his surveys showed that some Santa Ana voters were fearful of different groups taking over the city.

As a result, the back page of the Daley piece urges: “Don’t let them take over Santa Ana.”

Pushing Right Buttons

And Howell, Holbert’s campaign manager, said he had surveys showing that a politician’s perceived opposition to Proposition 13 is important.

“First you find the buttons to push, the things that get a reaction,” Howell said. “The voters do the rest.”

Englander added that a good campaign tries to balance the negative attack with several additional pieces that are strictly positive. He pointed to a toxic waste guide he designed for supervisorial candidate Donald R. Roth, mayor of Anaheim.

“That’s so positive and useful that everyone who sees it wants a copy for their home,” Englander said.

Still, Englander is proud of his negative, anti-Measure C mail, especially the piece featuring the late Mayor Richard Daley.

“That piece has been in my computer for three years,” said Englander. “I’ve been waiting for the chance to use it.”