Video Debate: Voters Deceived by Slate Card Mailers & Phoney Sample Ballots

Video clips from this two-part cable television series feature Craig Holman, Ph.D, author of Proposition 208, (1996) for the Center for Governmental Studies and former California Senator Dick Mountjoy, who challenge UCLA Law Professor Daniel Lowenstein, a defender of slate card mailers. Lowenstein filed a lawsuit to overturn Prop 208 including the disclosure requirements, on behalf of the slate card mailing operators.

Senator Dick Mountjoy reveals how questionable slate card mailers damaged his 1998 campaign with deceitful tactics and points to examples of the “for profit” slate card campaign mailers that they claim promote phony endorsements that have been bought and paid for by the very people purportedly endorsed.

In part-two Craig Holman exposes how phony sample ballots sent out by California Congresswoman Maxine Waters were prepared by a “for profit” slate card mailing operator, in an attempt to deceive voters. UCLA Law Professor Dan Lowenstein countered, saying that oppressive campaign laws were trying to discredit the mailings. He scoffed that if imitating an Official Sample Ballot is a problem, then it should be made illegal.

“If you take away the deceptiveness of a slate card, you take away the effectiveness of a slate card” said Senator Dick Mountjoy He cited the deceptive mailers targeting senior citizens in his Southern California district. He said the slate card mailings used his image and name to falsely imply he had endorsed those candidates. In fact the candidates had paid for the false endorsements. Click here for transcript of quote.

Over the past fourteen years Full Disclosure™ has produced series of programs involving campaign irregularities, voter registration and election fraud. The programs are featured on 43 cable systems and the Internet. In 2002 the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented host Leslie Dutton with a local public affairs Emmy Award for the series entitled “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism.”