Negative mailer unleashed against Liz Ortega echoes an infamous East Bay campaign blunder from the 1990s
SD10: AFSCME Local 3299-backed IE pours $439,000 into TV ads to oppose Lily Mei. Plus, daily campaign finance data, and campaign finance reports for Alameda County special districts
ELECTION 2022
Days until Election Day: 33. Days until ballots are mailed: 4
20TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
—BACK TO THE FUTURE—Back in 1998, a hard-fought Democratic primary race in the Hayward-area State Senate district pitted Assemblymember Michael Sweeney against Assemblymember Liz Figueroa. They were evenly matched until Sweeney’s campaign made a costly error.
—Hoping to derail his opponent, Sweeney’s campaign sent voters a mailer that labeled Figueroa as a tax cheat. The gambit backfired after a facsimile of the tax bill featured on the mailer included Figueroa’s Social Security number. Figueroa would later top Sweeney by 10 points and the senate seat later that year.
—Fast forward 24 years and many of the same aspects of that infamous mailer are included in the negative mailer sent last week by a real estate-backed Independent Expenditure Committee that opposes 20th Assembly District candidate Liz Ortega-Toro.
—In this case, Ortega-Toro’s home address was included the mailer in a facsimile of a tax bill from over a decade ago.
—Notably, both races—the State Senate contest from long ago and today’s 20th Assembly District race—covers roughly the same geographic areas. Both of the targets are named Liz. The main difference, however, is the mailer sent last week came from an IE, not Ortega-Toro’s November opponent, Shawn Kumagai.
—It remains to be seen whether the IE’s strategy will backfire in the same way Sweeney’s did. The negative Ortega-Toro mailer was followed up with a similarly negative ad using the same bankruptcy theme, although without any of the candidate’s personal information.
—Incidentally, 12 years after Figueroa was hit with the tax bill mailer, it was deployed yet again against her. During the 2010 primary for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, Nadia Lockyer’s campaign sent voters a mailer detailing Figueroa’s tax liabilities. Figueroa, though, lost that race.
—DE JA VU, PART 2—Clearly, Keep California Golden, the IE behind the attack mailers against Liz Ortega-Toro does not listen to the East Bay Insiders Podcast. That’s because co-host Shawn Wilson, who, as a budding consultant, played a part in the infamous 1998 mailer sent by Mike Sweeney’s campaign against Liz Figueroa, just happened to discuss the incident on an episode last month.
—DAVITA DOUBLE TAKE—Voters in the Hayward, San Leandro, Dublin, and San Leandro assembly district began receiving another onslaught of positive IE mailers in favor of 20th District candidates Shawn Kumagai. Up to nine separate IEs flooded primary voters with supportive mailers for Kumagai, including DaVita. In fact, one mailer sent last week might seem familiar. Aside from a few minor changes and a different photo featured inside, it’s basically the same product.
—A STAR IS BORN—The latest television ad being run ad nauseam is the Proposition 27 commercial that opposes online sports gambling. The star of the ad is Hayward resident Shay Franco-Clausen, a local Democratic Party insider and consultant. Franco-Clausen, in fact, was strongly contemplating a primary run in the 20th Assembly District race last spring before pulling her hat out of the ring. In addition to starring in statewide political commercials, Franco-Clausen is the campaign consultant for the Independent Expenditure Committee supporting Pamela Price’s bid for Alameda County District Attorney.
SAN LEANDRO MAYOR
—LIFE OF BRYAN—The brief appearance of San Leandro Police Chief Abdul Pridgen in a campaign video released on Monday by mayoral candidate Bryan Azevedo apparently didn’t suit well with city leaders. An image of Pridgen in uniform and with the police department’s insignia showing was included in the 80-second campaign video.
—To some, Pridgen’s inclusion may suggest that he is endorsing Azevedo’s campaign. The use of any city logo or insignia is a campaign violation, and Pridgen has not endorsed any candidate for office in San Leandro. The city’s official Twitter account made this clear in a smackdown tweet posted on Wednesday afternoon that specifically included Azevedo’s own Twitter handle.
MORE INSIDE:
**Below is campaign finance reports from the Sept. 24 filing deadline. Today the section includes campaigns for AC Transit, BART, East Bay MUD, and the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees. Plus, today’s daily campaign finance data.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to East Bay Insiders Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.