Hit Pieces Hit Mailboxes

By Richard Halstead

Independent expenditure committees, which are unfettered by campaign finance limits, have spent more than $578,000 backing two candidates in the 6th District Assembly race: Cynthia Murray and Pamela Torliatt.

Political observers said they've never seen spending of this magnitude by such committees in a local race.

Bob Stern, who heads the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said the use of independent expenditure committees exploded after campaign finance limits were imposed by Proposition 34 in 2000. Stern said he's not surprised that spending is heavy in the June primary since - because of the preponderance of Democrats in Marin - whoever wins will be the odds-on favorite to get elected in November.

"The business community has recognized that they're not going to elect Republicans, so they want to elect the best Democrat for them," Stern said. "And labor doesn't want business choosing which Democrat gets elected. So both sides are battling it out in the primary."

Five Democrats are competing in the June 6 primary, however, all of the independent expenditure committee money is flowing to these two candidates. Seven committees - including groups representing California real estate interests, agribusiness, the California Dental Association and the California Medical Association - have spent more than $332,000 to boost the campaign of Marin County Supervisor Cynthia Murray.

Meanwhile, the Opportunity PAC, a group whose contributors includes the California Federation of Teachers, the California Teachers Association, the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, and the California School Employees Association, has spent more than $133,000 promoting the campaign of Torliatt, the Petaluma councilwoman. The Opportunity PAC has also spent more than $49,000 on mailers opposing Murray's campaign.

Another committee, representing consumer attorneys, conservationists and nurses, has spent another $14,000 opposing Murray. And a committee representing engineers has spent an additional $24,000 to promote Torliatt's candidacy.

Murray has also been hit by two negative mailers sent out by an independent expenditure committee anchored by Jonathan Frieman, a San Rafael philanthropist and liberal activist. The committee has spent about $26,000 slamming Murray for her support from developers. Frieman contributed $10,000.

A separate committee also headed by Frieman sent out a mailer this week accusing Congressional candidate Assemblyman Joe Nation of being a tool of the insurance industry. The mailer, which cost more than $20,000, went out to 37,000 households.

"I think voters are too smart to fall for this," said Nation, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma.

Murray and Torliatt say they bear no responsibility for the phenomenon because they are barred by law from consulting with the committees.

"It's very disheartening to have it get into the personal and not really talk about issues," Murray said. She added, "It doesn't really matter what I think because I can't change it, and I have no control over it."

State campaign finance rules created by Proposition 34 in 2000 limit individual contributions during the primary to $3,300 and political action committee contributions to $6,700. But an independent expenditure committee may spend any amount in support of a candidate as long as it does not coordinate its activities with candidates or their campaign staffs.

Catherine Riley-Tolls of Larkspur has filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that Torliatt illegally coordinated her campaign efforts with the Opportunity PAC. Riley-Tolls, a retired marketing director, said she is not supporting any candidate in the race. She said she was fed up with all the mailers she was receiving.

"A lot of these candidates need to be accountable for their campaign practices," Riley-Tolls said.

In her complaint, Riley-Tolls asserts that the Opportunity PAC used photos of Torliatt that it could have gained access to only with the help of Torliatt's campaign. Riley-Tolls also notes that an Opportunity PAC mailer attacking Murray for not standing up to the oil industry reached voters on the same day voters received a Torliatt mailer, which proclaimed that "Pamela Torliatt stood up to the oil refineries and won."

"These are absolutely and totally unfounded claims," Torliatt said.

Larry Grisolano, a Los Angeles-based spokesman for the Opportunity PAC, also denied any coordination. Grisolano said the PAC got the photos it used from Torliatt's Web site without seeking permission.

Grisolano said Murray's decision not to abide by the voluntary $446,000 spending cap created by Proposition 34 "put the rest of us on notice that she would be trying to leverage an unfair advantage with her campaign treasury."

At last count, Murray was leading the fund-raising race with $451,964. Jared Huffman, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and a Marin Municipal Water District board member, is in second place with $293,385.

The flood of independent expenditure cash elicited a response from Huffman and other candidates in the race.

"A couple of candidates have decided to turn this race into an all-you-can-eat buffet for special interests," Huffman said.

Candidate John Alden, a consumer protection lawyer and chairman of the Marin Democratic Party, lamented the fact that all the spending would prevent voters from getting an accurate picture of the candidates. In April, Alden pledged to discourage any group from organizing an independent expenditure committee on his behalf and challenged the other candidates to do the same.

"I've made a point of making a strong grass-roots campaign because I don't think the race should be decided by these big out-of-state interests," said candidate Damon Connolly, a deputy attorney in the California Attorney General's Office and a Dixie School District board member.

"The IE's have become the new evil du jour," said candidate Alex Easton-Brown, a Lagunitas sociologist. "And it's going to get a lot worse until they change the system."

To some extent the pro and con mailers may cancel themselves out, said Petaluma political consultant Brian Sobel. But if there is one thing that political consultants know from experience, he said, it is that negative campaigning works, particularly if goes on long enough.

"It's like rainfall," Sobel said. "Eventually, it fills the bucket."

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