Perez Ferguson Criticized Over Misspellings

In one of the final salvos of a bitter U.S. congressional campaign, Democratic hopeful Kevin Sweeney accused Anita Perez Ferguson on Thursday of being a bad speller.

Bulk-mail flyers from Perez Ferguson’s campaign began hitting mailboxes in the 23rd Congressional District this week, emblazoned with the misspelled names of several communities that she hopes to represent.

Sweeney, who has complained frequently that Perez Ferguson has conducted a negative campaign against him instead of focusing on the issues, referred to the misspellings first in a news release.

“There’s only one thing I hate more than negative campaigning,” he said. “It’s bad spelling.”

Later, in an interview, he repeated his criticism.

“You’d think somebody who lived here would spell more correctly,” Sweeney said.

He pointed to the names “Miara Monte, Meiniers Oaks, Tajon Pass and Vantucopa” on the front of the flyer. The correct spellings are “Mira Monte, Meiners Oaks, Tejon Pass and Ventucopa,” Sweeney pointed out.

Perez Ferguson could not be reached for comment. But campaign manager Sam Rodriguez dismissed the spelling issue as unimportant.

“This campaign is a lot bigger than just misspellings,” he said.

Besides, Rodriguez said, any errors in spelling were not the fault of the candidate. He blamed the misspellings on the Campaign Performance Group, a Washington-based publicity company that the Perez Ferguson campaign hired to design the flyer, which is titled, “Who would you trust with your future?”

“No, we are not concerned about the misspellings,” Rodriguez said. “The misspellings are just an error. Our whole campaign has been focused on the issues of the economy, jobs, health care and education, real issues for real people.”

Sweeney, however, also complained angrily about accusations leveled at him in the new Perez Ferguson flyers, which were mailed to all county voters who participated in the last three elections.

One of the two pages inside the Perez Ferguson flyer is devoted to her biography and her campaign promises.

The other page criticizes Sweeney as “a political insider . . . from OUTSIDE our communities” who moved to Ventura in 1989 “to help put corporate money in the hands of political candidates.”

“I’m running for Congress. She’s running against me. . . . It’s a negative hit piece,” Sweeney said of the glossy, two-color flyer.

Although Sweeney worked for Colorado Sen. Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential campaign, he denied the flyer’s labeling of him as a political consultant, saying he offers unpaid political advice.

“This is from somebody who claims to be different, who claims to be a political outsider and who wants to change the system,” Sweeney said. “My opinion is, you can’t change the system if you run like everybody else and run a negative campaign.”

Sweeney and Perez Ferguson are battling for the Democratic nomination to run against incumbent Republican Elton Gallegly, who is being challenged for his party’s nomination by Daphne Becker and Dr. Robert Shakman. Libertarian candidate Jay C. Wood also is running for Gallegly’s seat.

Sweeney said his own direct-mail flyers focus solely on his stances on issues important to the 23rd District, and not on his Democratic opponent.

But Perez Ferguson’s camp said the flyers are not negative, but comparative.

“We wanted to present Kevin exactly as he really is,” Rodriguez said. “Everything we have is documented. We used his own words. We wanted to make sure it was factual, accurate and resembled what he has been doing.”