Boland Fires Consultant Over Mailer

State Senate candidate Paula L. Boland has fired the Sacramento consultant who authored a controversial mailer that called opponent Adam Schiff’s law enforcement supporters “radical government unions.”

In a letter sent over the weekend, Boland said she was offended by consultant Dave Gilliard’s defense of the mailer in a Times story that ran Saturday.

“The groups that endorsed Schiff don’t like what we say about them,” Gilliard said last week. “Big deal.”

In the letter, which was obtained by The Times, Boland said to Gilliard: “Your comments . . . saying it’s no ‘big deal’ what the men and women of law enforcement believe was offensive to me.”

Boland also asked the consultant to withdraw a television ad about lawyers that she characterized as “tasteless and offensive.”

Gilliard could not be reached for comment Monday, but on Friday he stood by the accuracy of the mailer.

Boland, a Republican assemblywoman from Granada Hills, is running against Democrat Schiff in the 21st state Senate District, which encompasses Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and parts of Los Angeles.

The dismissal followed days of behind-the-scenes damage control efforts by Boland, who last week scrambled to mollify critics of the mailer. Some of those critics were law enforcement groups that had endorsed her.

But Boland has not apologized for the campaign mailer itself, despite calls to do so from many of the offended police associations supporting Schiff.

Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, is backed by the Burbank, Pasadena, South Pasadena and San Marino police groups, the California Police Chiefs Assn., the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs and the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California.

The groups endorsing Schiff are particularly irked by the attack because Boland had sought their backing in this election and had been endorsed by some of them in the past. They say their associations are no different from those that support Boland.

The assemblywoman, who headed the Assembly Public Safety Committee, has a long list of law enforcement endorsements herself.

Among those backing Boland are the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the Assn. of Deputy Sheriffs of Los Angeles County, the Glendale Police Officers Assn., the California Council of Police and Sheriffs and the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.

Gilliard said he wasn’t referring to the smaller police groups in the flier and noted that no organization was mentioned by name.

Firing a consultant this close to an election may be more symbolic than substantive, but Schiff said the firing shows a campaign at odds with itself in the crucial last days of the race.

Boland was not available for comment.