CAMPAIGN WATCH : Truth in Advertising

We are not so naive as to think that candidates vying for political office trade only in the unvarnished truth. As long as there have been elections, candidates have promoted themselves with half-truths, shades of gray and outright lies. But that said, the advertisements that Republican Senate candidate Mike Huffington unveiled last week are simply beyond the pale.

Huffington’s television and newspaper ads try to paint his opponent, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as soft on crime because she voted to confirm judges he attacks as too lenient.

His prime target is U.S. Appeals Court Judge Rosemary Barkett from Florida. Huffington charges Barkett overturned the death penalty “over 100 times,” and that Feinstein voted to confirm Barkett’s appointment to the appellate court. Ergo, Feinstein is a bleeding heart.

Huffington’s ad doesn’t mention that 60 other senators, including Florida’s Republican Sen. Connie Mack, also voted to confirm Barkett. Nor do his ads mention that Barkett, a former nun who earned the American Bar Assn.’s highest rating when she was nominated for the court, upheld the death penalty more often than she voted to overturn it.

Appellate court judges are supposed to review lower court decisions to determine whether the law was properly applied in a particular case and the trial conducted fairly.

Is Huffington charging that Judge Barkett is soft on crime because she doesn’t want to execute everyone who appeals to her? If so, that perspective reflects a misunderstanding of the principles of our judicial system.