You can tell when politicians get desperate by the way they attack their opponents with half-truths or outright lies in the final days of a campaign. Spreading fear about a lesser-known candidate is a common strategy for an incumbent running scared.
Confident candidates avoid mentioning the names of their opponents. But incumbent Bill Horn's latest mailer is more about spreading fear of what a Supervisor Steve Gronke might do rather than what Supervisor Horn has done and will do. He makes a pandering promise to "stand up for taxpayers," but unless he thinks public employees don't pay taxes, it appears Horn lives in an Orwellian world where some taxpayers are more equal than others.
You'd think Horn would feel more confident after 16 years in office. He's been able to make a lot of friends by strategically doling out his annual $2 million share of the $10 million in slush funds that supervisors enjoyed during his tenure.
Maybe what worries Horn most is that his $111,000 investment in the June primary yielded only 47,000 votes, costing him $2.80 per vote, while Gronke spent a mere $25,000 to attract 21,000 voters at $1.19 a vote.
From July through September, Horn spent another $163,000, bringing his campaign's total investment, a month before the election, to $274,000. With fewer deep pockets to tap, Gronke spent only $12,000 on his campaign during the same period, for a total of $39,000.
Horn's attack piece claims, "Steve Gronke's campaign is bankrolled by special interest public employee unions."
But Gronke's campaign consultant, Cody Campbell, told me his campaign "has not accepted money from any union or affiliated labor organization and is unaware of any monetary expenditure from labor that will go to support the campaign." He said several labor organizations have included Gronke on their list of candidates they endorse. That should come as no surprise, given Horn's outspoken disdain for unions.
I e-mailed Horn's campaign for a response, but didn't receive a reply by this column's deadline.
Horn's accusation that Gronke's campaign is being bankrolled by unions arrived in the mail the same day a public employees union was busily planting a forest of signs along North County roadways. They carry Bill Horn's name in large, flaming orange letters. At the bottom, in print so small it can't be read from more than a few feet away, we learn the signs have been, "Paid for by the Deputy Sheriffs' Association of San Diego County Political Action Fund #862122."
It seems the only candidate being bankrolled by a union is a desperate incumbent, willing to mislead his constituents and spend more than a quarter of a million dollars to buy an election.
Richard Riehl writes from Carlsbad. Contact him at fogcutter1@yahoo.com.
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