TV Spot and Misleading Mailer Heat Up D.A. Race

An election mailer sent to thousands of Ventura County households this week erroneously claims that district attorney candidate Ron Bamieh has been a judge for 12 years and an attorney for 21 years.

Bamieh, a 36-year-old prosecutor who received his law degree in 1991 and was never a judge, said the vendor who produced the slate card, which lists candidates endorsed by a taxpayer-advocate group, made a mistake.

But opponent Greg Totten questioned whether Bamieh was intentionally trying to deceive voters and suggested he may seek a court injunction to stop distribution of additional mailers.

“This is a lie; this is untrue,” said Totten, who has repeatedly accused his rival of exaggerating his qualifications. “This is just the latest example of a campaign that is trying to mislead the public.”

The slate card controversy is the most recent in a race that is growing nastier by the day.

Bamieh and Totten, the 47-year-old second-in-command of the district attorney’s office, are vying to replace retiring Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. The election is March 5.

On Wednesday, Totten called a news conference to bring attention to a Spanish-language television advertisement run by his opponent that features a four-second spot by a 72-year-old Santa Paula man.

Totten told reporters that he discovered that the man, Raul Cervantes, had been convicted of selling cocaine more than a decade ago when a tipster called his campaign office.

After checking Los Angeles County court records, Totten said, he learned that Cervantes, one of four campaign supporters featured in Bamieh’s TV spot, pleaded no contest to selling cocaine in 1989.

Cervantes is identified in the ad as a Food Share volunteer and tells viewers: “With Ron Bamieh, the county will be a better place to live, work and care for our families.”

Totten suggested that Bamieh has such weak community support that he either didn’t know or didn’t care that one of his supporters was caught with 11 ounces of cocaine.

“This is unfortunately yet another example in my opponent’s quest for power that he has lost his moral compass,” Totten said, standing beside Bradbury, Sheriff Bob Brooks and several local police chiefs.

Totten and Bradbury called the use of a drug seller in an ad promoting a district attorney candidate “reprehensible.”

Bamieh said he had never met Cervantes and didn’t know he had a criminal record.

But he lashed out at his opponent for dragging an elderly campaign volunteer into a mudslinging grudge match.

“The shocking story is not Mr. Cervantes, but that Greg Totten would do background checks on people supporting my campaign,” Bamieh said. “This man was emotionally distraught when I talked to him today. Mr. Totten is willing to destroy anyone to catch up in a race he is losing.”

Bamieh said Cervantes served less than a year in jail for the drug offense and has since been honored by various civic organizations for his work in the community.

“The person who should concern himself with his moral compass is Mr. Totten,” Bamieh said.

As for the slate mailer, which cost the Bamieh campaign $10,000, the vendor has corrected the mistake and apologized, the candidate said.

The card was put out by the Irvine-based Save Prop. 13 Committee and endorses candidates in several races.

On Wednesday, the committee issued a news release stating: “Due to a production error of our vendor ... one line of text from another candidate was accidentally added on to Mr. Bamieh’s text.”

The release states that the error has been corrected in future mailings.

Bamieh said he had proofread the ad and that the mistake was made after he signed off on it. He added that it should be obvious that the reference to him being a judge was a typo.

“To actually think that I would put that on this slate card,” Bamieh said, his voice trailing off. “You would have to be a complete fool.”