Last-Minute Fliers for 3 Campaigns Outrage Foes

A flurry of last-minute political mail blanketed Ventura County on Saturday, drawing objections and outrage from opponents who say the fliers make dubious and sometimes erroneous assertions.

Of all the mailers delivered to voters as the election neared, the claims of those from three campaigns were particularly effective in raising the ire of political foes.

County Hospital

At least two new mailers from Community Memorial Hospital arrived Saturday. One claimed that east county residents might have to drive to Ventura to see a doctor if voters approve Ventura County Medical Center’s proposed outpatient center.

Another contended that many supporters of the political campaign backing the project would benefit financially from the deal.

“It’s a deceptive campaign being run by the big boys in L.A.,” said Madge Schaefer, a spokeswoman for a group supporting the county hospital project. “Their attorneys are from Sacramento and their political hacks are from Los Angeles.”

Schaefer said the fliers were an attempt to divert voters’ attention from the fact that Community Memorial, a nonprofit, tax-exempt hospital, had spent more than $1.3 million on its campaign to derail the county hospital’s proposed clinic.

“This is simply another ploy to try and hide their shameless spending,” Schaefer said. “Every taxpayer who is sitting down now to write out their bill for property taxes should know that the glossy mailer that they got in the mail today was paid for with tax-free dollars.”

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One letter that infuriated project supporters begins, “The truth is finally out on who is behind the effort to build a huge expansion at the county hospital with Measure X.

“We have just learned,” the letter continues, that the majority of Measure X’s financial contributors are county employees, investment firms and lawyers who would benefit from the proposed project.

Schaefer said the supporters come from a variety of interests who have joined together because they believe in the need for an outpatient center to help care for the poor. “There are doctors who practice at both hospitals who have given us money,” she said.

Community Memorial claims in one political brochure that the county’s project is not needed because “roughly 40 percent of Ventura’s hospital beds are currently unused.”

While it’s true that local hospitals are not fully occupied, project supporters say the new facility is for outpatient services and would not add to the glut of hospital beds.

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Another Community Memorial mailer targeted eastern Ventura County residents with the question: “Do you want to drive 55 minutes through Ventura County traffic to see a doctor?”

The flier asserts that residents who rely on the public health system would have to drive to Ventura to get medical care at “this new centralized hospital expansion.”

Actually, the county hospital operates satellite clinics in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks that handle most medical needs. Those patients needing a specialist or hospitalization would have to drive to the county’s medical center.

Weldon Canyon

Backers of a Weldon Canyon landfill initiative drew protests for distributing campaign fliers to thousands of voters that opponents said were filled with false and misleading statements.

One mailer, for instance, claimed the cities of Moorpark, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Port Hueneme had all passed resolutions supporting the proposed Weldon Canyon dump.

But the mayors of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura issued a press release Saturday countering this claim.

“No Ventura County city has endorsed the measure,” the mayors’ joint statement said. Measure T would allow the development of the landfill between Ventura and Ojai.

Their joint statement said Taconic Resources, the San Diego investment firm behind the ballot measure, “made it appear in their campaign flier that several Ventura County cities had endorsed Measure T. That is untrue.”

Taconic’s mailer also states “it will cost Ventura County at least $3 million per year just to transport trash out of western and central Ventura County.”

But, opponents point out, it says nothing about where the trash would be sent or how the $3-million figure was calculated.

“These fliers are filled with a bunch of hateful, mean-spirited pack of lies,” said Chris Westphal, a member of Citizens Against Measure T. “They have no credence to them at all. It just makes me furious.”

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A separate Taconic mailer distributed this weekend targets “Ojai elitists” for leading the charge against Measure T and scaring voters with claims that the proposed landfill is not environmentally sound. The mailer features a drawing of the tiny west county city with a wooden fence erected around it, with signs warning “keep out.”

“Their song is NIMBY, NIMBY . . . Not in my backyard,” the mailer says of Measure T opponents.

Westphal said that while many landfill opponents are from Ojai, the campaign draws support from other areas, including Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. He accused Taconic of trying to divide the county on the landfill issue.

Westphal said a new landfill is not needed to serve the west county. He said the area’s trash could be shipped cheaper to other existing dumps.

Sybert vs. Jhin

His voice shaking with anger, Republican congressional candidate K. Paul Jhin on Saturday accused rival Rich Sybert of “lying” and “playing the race card” in a campaign mailer that questions Jhin’s name, his Republican credentials and whether his campaign has ties to foreign corporations.

“I’m a Christian and I try to practice the golden rule,” Jhin said. “But when I got this [mailer] I was shocked. It is irresponsible for somebody who wants to be a congressman to slander somebody’s character.”

Sybert sent the mailer to 26,000 registered Republicans in the 24th District, which includes Thousand Oaks, Malibu and portions of the San Fernando Valley. Both men are competing for a chance to replace Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) when he retires next year.

Sybert could not be reached for comment Saturday. But his campaign director, John Theiss, said, “I think Mr. Jhin is being a little too sensitive.”

The mailer’s cover carries the headline: “Is Candidate ‘Paul’ Jhin A Fraud?” and has a picture of Jhin with the word “EXPOSED” stamped across his face. Inside, it accuses Jhin of violating federal election laws, lying about his Republican credentials and changing his name for the election.

“Kyo Ryoon Jhin was born in Korea in 1933 and has used his real name for over 60 years,” the mailer says. “Two months ago, he submitted his election papers as Kyo Jhin. Then he told election officials to change his name to ‘Paul.’ ”

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It’s true Jhin changed his ballot designation from “Kyo Jhin” to “K. Paul Jhin.” But he said he has used both Kyo and Paul interchangeably since he immigrated to the United States in 1955 and that he is not hiding his name, as the mailer suggests.

“In 1955, I was baptized and I was given the name Paul,” the 62-year-old Jhin said. “I’m proud of my ethnic name Kyo and I’m proud of my Christian name. They both mean teacher. His remark is racist.”

Jhin took issue with the mailer’s accusation that he is somehow violating federal election laws. The flier reads:

“Jhin is apparently spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on his campaign, yet he has refused to file any reports or financial disclosures with the Federal Elections Commission showing the sources of these funds as required by law. Why? Is Jhin covering up contributions from foreign corporations?”

Jhin and his campaign treasurer, John A. Ellis III, said they filed his financial disclosure report on time with the clerk of the House of Representatives, as was the practice before this year. Because of the confusion with the procedural change, Ellis said the clerk’s office promised to forward the report to the Federal Elections Commission.

Ellis produced a 25-page report and a certified mail receipt postmarked March 11, the day the pre-primary finance reports were due.

The report showed that as of March 8, Jhin had raised $28,946 from individual donors nationwide and had loaned his campaign $51,275.

“He’s trying to infer that I received money from foreign corporations,” Jhin said. “That’s an absolute lie. I didn’t receive one penny from a corporation.”

Defending the mailer, Theiss said campaign staff members checked repeatedly with the Federal Elections Commission for Jhin’s report and it was not there. The last day Sybert’s campaign checked was March 20, the day the mailer was printed.

Theiss said he had no direct evidence that Jhin’s campaign had spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” or that he received any contributions from foreign corporations, which is illegal.

“We are just asking the question,” Theiss said. “Every candidate is required to file a campaign finance report once they have raised or spent $5,000. If he is not willing to disclose his finances, it only leads me to believe that he is hiding something.”

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The mailer also calls into question Jhin’s credentials as “a ‘Reagan’ Republican leader from Malibu.” The flier said Jhin was not registered to vote in California until 1994 and has no ties to the district. “Local Republicans have never heard of him and he has no record of leadership in our Party,” it contends.

Jhin said it’s true that he moved to Malibu in 1994, the same year Sybert moved to the district. But Jhin said he has a long history of Republican Party leadership, including a stint as secretary of the Maryland Republican Party and vice chairman for Korean Americans for Reagan-Bush ’84 Committee.

“He’s playing dirty, dirty politics,” Jhin said. “I don’t know how he could do these things and sleep with a clear conscience. If I did this to him, I couldn’t sleep. I’d rather lose and have a clear conscience.”