LOCAL ELECTIONS / COUNTY SUPERVISOR : Dana Mailers Send a Double Message

County Supervisor Deane Dana apparently feels very strongly both ways: Democrats are good when they are your friends, and bad when they are friends of your opponent.

And in this turbulent campaign year, Dana is spending thousands of dollars to send both messages.

When Dana, a registered Republican, was endorsed by former Democratic Party Chairman Peter D. Kelly III, Dana’s campaign sent out a mailer trumpeting the news to thousands of Democrats in the district.

But when his challenger, Rolling Hills Mayor Gordana Swanson, also a Republican, was endorsed by several prominent Democrats, Dana responded with a mailer to Republicans saying they should not “respect a phony conservative like Gordana Swanson.”

And so it goes in the vitriolic--and supposedly nonpartisan--campaign for county supervisor in the 4th District.

The Dana campaign advertisement is the latest in a series of stinging attacks the challengers have launched at one another. And it is only one of many in which the truth is not quite what it appears.

The Dana mailer also attacks Swanson for using consulting firms that have run Democratic races and for accepting campaign funds from unions.

But Dana’s campaign manager, Harvey Englander, has run campaigns for many liberal Democrats, including state Sen. Diane Watson of Los Angeles and Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo. And Dana has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from unions on his way to amassing a $2-million campaign war chest.

“It’s politics,” Englander said. “I’ve not created anything new” with the twin-sided strategy. “We’re just more effective with it.”

Indeed, Dana may have monopolized space on “slate cards” targeting Democratic voters. The mailers typically endorse national candidates for free and charge candidates for minor and local offices to ride on the coattails.

Though he is a longtime GOP loyalist, Dana has spent tens of thousands of dollars to appear in these advertisements, which also urge a vote for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democratic presidential contender.

In recent weeks Dana paid $6,300 to the California Democratic Alliance, $10,000 to the Democratic Vote Guide and $20,000 to the California Democratic Voter Check List.

These slate cards are put out by political consulting firms, not political parties.

Democrats account for 46.5% of registered voters in the 4th Supervisorial District, which encompasses all or part of 40 communities along the coast from Marina del Rey to Long Beach and inland to Diamond Bar. Republicans make up 43.3% of registered voters.

Kelly said he hopes his endorsement will help Dana attract Democratic voters. “I would hope it would be a positive thing,” Kelly said.

But he said he is troubled by the incumbent’s strategy of criticizing Swanson for also accepting endorsements from Democrats.

The four Democratic officeholders endorsing Swanson, who were mentioned in the Dana advertisement sent to Republicans, are Assembly members Lucille Roybal-Allard, Marguerite Archie-Hudson, Gwen Moore and Richard Polanco, all of Los Angeles.

For her part, Swanson said, party affiliation is irrelevant in a nonpartisan race.

She said Dana’s strategy of playing partisan politics could backfire. “He is flip-flopping all over the place. He’s a Democrat one minute and a Republican the next. He’s just desperate. The public will see through it.”

Dana did not return telephone calls to comment on the campaign.