It's the fall rutting season for politicians. You can observe them trying to vanquish their rivals and court the voters.
All's fair in politics and mating, their instincts tell them.
Most will resort to about anything to win the prize on election day. But there should be boundaries even for politicians -- lines never to cross.
I draw a line at fabricating facts -- or, less politely, lying. It casts doubts on a candidate's credibility and character.
This unscrupulous conduct usually shows up in campaign ads.
A dozen years ago, I slammed then-treasurer candidate Phil Angelides -- currently the Democratic gubernatorial nominee -- for a vicious TV ad aimed at his rival, state Sen. David Roberti (D-Van Nuys). The spot attempted to link Roberti, in voters' minds, with the murder of a Florida abortion doctor.
Angelides later admitted that running the ad was a mistake.
In June, I raked Angelides' primary election opponent, Controller Steve Westly, for running a sleazy ad falsely accusing Angelides of illegally dumping sludge into Lake Tahoe. The allegation was unmitigated balderdash.
Gutter ads don't seep into voters' homes just over TV, of course. They also come through the mailbox.
One landed on my kitchen table last weekend. I suspect many other absentee, declined-to-state voters got the same poster-style ad. It was from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Angelides' $18-billion tax increase would drive California's economy backwards," the mailer reads. And in case you don't get the message, it's repeated twice. "California families can't afford Phil Angelides' $18-billion tax increase... Phil Angelides would raise taxes on California families by $18 billion."
It parrots what the governor has been saying himself.
And it's all utterly bogus. (My preferred adjective is unprintable.)
Not even close.
Schwarzenegger must know this by now. But whether he does or doesn't, it seems obvious that the governor has little regard for the truth, at least while in political rut.
Once again -- and this has been written a zillion times by myself and many others -- Angelides is proposing to raise taxes by roughly $5 billion on the rich and big business: hiking the top income tax rate for couples earning over $500,000 a year, and creating a commission to recommend corporate loophole-closings.
In addition, he is proposing $1.4 billion in tax cuts for the middle class, small businesses and seniors, plus $600 million in college tuition rollbacks.
That's it.
Yes, in years past, Angelides has suggested extending the sales tax to services, boosting property taxes on commercial buildings and restoring the car tax to the level it was for decades. But he isn't doing that now.
And to jump on him for his previous notions would be like arguing that Schwarzenegger still proposes to eliminate death benefits for the widows of firefighters and cops. (He pleads ignorance of this embarrassing feature that was included in his abandoned public pension "reform.")
