Unethical Campaigning

In recent days scurrilous mailings charging 40th Congressional District Republican candidates C. David Baker with adultery and C. Christopher Cox with spreading communist propaganda were received by voters.

And Cox, who had sent out a couple of “hit” pieces of his own against Baker and Nathan Rosenberg, admitted to altering an endorsement letter from William F. Buckley to add a postscript against Rosenberg regarding Rosenberg’s brother who ran the now-defunct est program on human development.

The 40th District isn’t the only area where dirty tricks and charges of campaign deceit are commonplace. In the battle over Measure A, the so-called slow-growth initiative, both sides have accused each other of deception and misleading voters.

The “hit” pieces usually contain erroneous and spurious charges. At best they are deceptive, but frequently they are libelous and based on outright fabrications. Unfortunately, they can be effective--if voters get lazy and accept them at face value.

With all the political flimflam and mud that has been flying around the county, voters must be especially wary of campaign literature that arrives close to election day. That’s often when irresponsible charges and attacks are made, timed so that the targets have no time to refute them.

Voters should beware of, and be ready to reject, those last-minute mailers and ask themselves why serious charges were leveled in the closing hours of the campaign, rather than weeks earlier when they could be discussed, explained or exposed.

As long as “hit” pieces are effective, irresponsible candidates interested only in getting votes, not the ethics of how they get them, will avoid real issues and pander to the passions and prejudices of voters.

The best defense against that is for voters to reject unethical and questionable campaign tactics by not voting for candidates who use them. When dirty politics loses elections rather than wins them, elections will be a lot cleaner.

Complete Times ballot recommendations appear in the editorial page of today’s Opinion Section.