Political Trickery on the Way to Your Mailbox

I don’t know whether dirty political campaigning was mentioned as a hazard when Willie Williams signed on as Los Angeles police chief, but he’s sure up against it now.

Williams is battling the grimiest of California’s famed political slime as he campaigns for two property tax increase measures on Tuesday’s ballot. One is Proposition M, financing a modernized 911 system so that someone may actually answer when you make an emergency call. The other is Proposition N, paying for hiring 1,000 more cops.

The slime will arrive in your mail in the next few days. It will consist of lists of recommendations to voters, known in the political business as slate mailers.

Slate mailers, the curse of California politics.

These slates seem to come from an official organization connected to a political party. Don’t you believe it. They are commercial enterprises, prepared by entrepreneurs who understand how to turn the goofy politics of the Golden State into a quick buck.

There’s no real opposition to Proposition M. The near collapse of the 911 system during the riots was the final blow to a communications network famous for leaving robbery and burglary victims dangling on the line. Rather, opposition is centered on Proposition N, the police force increase.

The main opponent is the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., heir to the late tax-cutting curmudgeon who gave us Proposition 13. Joel Fox, association president, said the anti-Proposition N forces have bought spots on three of the commercial slates you’ll be receiving in the mail.

One will be mailed to Republicans. This is logical. The GOP is the anti-tax increase party. The other two go to groups that tend to be more Democratic and more liberal--and possibly more friendly to higher taxes.

Herein lies the trickery.

Fox got together with a political consultant in San Francisco named Clint Reilly, a legend in the shadowy world of politics by mail. When Reilly showed me around his office several years ago, he had enough mailing equipment to put out the Land’s End catalogue. Since then, he’s upgraded.

A few days before the election, Reilly is mailing a slate that looks like an official Democratic Party document. It will lead off with a ringing endorsement of the Clinton-Gore ticket and then list a bunch of other Democrats. Each community receives its own version of the slate, featuring local issues. The slate goes to registered Democrats.

Fox paid Reilly $11,000. In return, the version of the slate mailed to Los Angeles will contain a recommendation for a “no” vote on Proposition N.

Pretty tricky. The uninformed voter picks up this slate and figures it comes from generous, free-spending, tax-the-rich Democrats. If these people are against the tax increase, if Bill Clinton and Al Gore oppose it, the plan must really stink.

Even worse is another slate chosen by Fox. It’s called “Your Pro-Choice Voter Guide.” You’d assume that it’s put out by abortion rights people who dashed off the guide in a few hours stolen from defending abortion clinics against Operation Rescue demonstrators.

Wrong. The slate comes from the San Francisco political consulting firm of Berry and Muller, who charged Fox $8,000 for a place on their slate.

This one also carries the name of the Clinton-Gore ticket and gives a big plug for Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic Senate nominee who appears to be ahead in her race against John Seymour. Like the Reilly slate, this one is targeted at the liberal and middle-of-the-road set.

So, an uninformed voter glancing through the “Pro-Choice Voter Guide” might very well get the idea that a vote for Proposition N, for a tax increase to hire more cops, is not the politically correct thing to do.

I don’t know if Chief Williams has heard about the mailers. He’s from Philadelphia, where politics has its own kind of sleaze. But he kept clean there and became a highly respected head of the Philadelphia Police Department.

He’s most upright in his campaigning for Propositions M and N. Recently, he taped two television commercials for the measures. Meanwhile, the Proposition M and N campaign team, trying to match opponents in the slate war, bought their own spots on mailers. Don’t ask about this part of the campaign, chief. Maintain your deniability.

As for you, the voter, here’s my advice. Destroy every slate mailer that comes to your home. Don’t read a single one. Keep them from your kids. Treat them as the most disgusting form of pornography. Tear them up in tiny pieces.

Then sit down and read the official voter guide pamphlets provided by the state and city.