Slate Mailers--Real Story Often Appears in Fine Print

As slate and other mailings cascaded in over the weekend in the insurance initiative and other campaigns, voters had to carefully read the fine print to find out exactly where the political advice was coming from, and sometimes even that was not enough.

It would take an extremely well-informed voter to know, for example, that the 704 Sansome St., San Francisco, address listed on a “California Democratic Voter Manual” that was sent to registered Democrats all over the state was actually the address of the headquarters of the insurance industry’s campaign and that the industry had paid for the “manual.”

Sunday afternoon, a spokesman for Gov. George Deukmejian branded as “clearly unauthorized” another insurance industry-financed mailing that went out to registered Republicans throughout the state and purported to be “Governor Deukmejian’s Official Ballot Recommendations” to vote ‘no’ on Propositions 100 and 103.

Deukmejian Position

Deukmejian 10 days ago issued a statement urging a ‘no’ vote on all five insurance initiatives. But the mailing arriving in most homes Saturday mentioned only his recommendation against the two initiatives that the insurers are opposing, while ignoring his recommendation against insurer-backed Propositions 101, 104 and 106. And it used anti-100 and 103 language, which came not from the governor but from the insurers’ advertising campaign.

The governor’s press secretary, Kevin Brett, declared of the insurers:

“They did not contact the governor’s office. Even if they had, (the mailing) would not have been authorized. . . . The public should remember that the governor has merely stated how he intends to vote, and he is not campaigning against any of the five insurance-related initiatives, nor is the Deukmejian campaign committee going to spend one dime to defeat any of the five.”

Industry Spokesman

A spokesman for the industry campaign responded:

“The Deukmejian mailing is a reiteration of his positions on two of the matters on which he took positions Oct. 28. We just reiterated what the guy said.”

Meanwhile, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who is backing Proposition 103 and its sweeping insurance rate rollbacks, sent a telegram to California Secretary of State March Fong Eu calling upon her to hold a news conference today to formally advise voters that the “California Democratic Voter Manual,” in fact, “is an insurance industry campaign tactic and does not represent the view of the Democratic Party.”

“It is difficult to imagine that the insurance companies who funded this deliberate masquerade would like to see (Democratic) Senate candidate Leo McCarthy, Rep. Mel Levine and state Assemblyman Tom Hayden elected,” Nader said, noting that the slate mentioned the Democratic candidates in every area to which it was sent, in addition to its call for support of Propositions 104 and 106 and opposition to 100 and 103.

Responding for the industry campaign, coordinator Clint Reilly said:

“There is a certain irony in the accusations made by Mr. Nader in view of his own massive participation in the 1986 Democratic voter guides sponsored by the Berman and D’Agostino firm of Los Angeles. In that campaign, the ‘No on Prop 51’ effort was managed by Berman and D’Agostino. Their firm was paid to print and mail to 3.5 million California Democrats a slate card advocating ‘no’ on Proposition 51. Ralph Nader and (Atty. Gen.) John Van de Kamp were utilized as the two principal spokespersons on the card urging California voters to vote ‘no’ on Prop 51. . . .

“Slate cards are and have been a part of California politics in this decade,” Reilly added. “In fact, they were pioneered by allies of Ralph Nader and he, himself, has liberally utilized them when it has been in his interest to do so. . . . When Clinton Reilly Campaigns utilizes a slate card as a way of helping to defeat Propositions 100 and 103, we are only following in the footsteps of a tradition pioneered by Ralph Nader and John Van de Kamp.

“In this campaign, we are aware that the trial lawyers (supporters of Proposition 100) have spent millions of dollars on slate cards.”

There were controversial slate mailings in other campaigns over the weekend.

California Republican officials denounced a slate card they said had been sent out by an organization named Victory ’88 controlled by a man they identified as a member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee. The card portrayed itself as urging a vote for the “Republican team.”

State party chairman Bob Naylor said the so-called team, while including the GOP presidential ticket and the party’s candidate for reelection to the U.S. Senate, Pete Wilson, also included a number of Democrats for lesser offices and took positions on some ballot measures that were inconsistent with official Republican positions.

Characterized as Cynical

“This is clearly a cynical attempt by some Democrats and others to trick Republican voters into voting against their own party’s candidates and into voting certain ways on ballot measures on the basis of what appears to be, but is not, a Republican endorsement,” Naylor said. Naylor said party attorneys are looking into the possibility of legal action. “The important thing for now, however, is to let our voters know that this piece is not an official party mailer,” he said.

Attempts to reach a representative of the Victory ’88 organization for comment were not successful.

Other heavy mailings over the weekend were made by the tobacco industry’s campaign against Proposition 99, the cigarette tax measure. These reiterated the industry’s arguments, challenged by the measure’s advocates, that it would lead not only to higher taxes but also to more crime, and that it would profit “wealthy doctors.”