These misleading Fresno political mailers deserve a quick trip to the recycling bin
Is it safe to check the mail again?
In Fresno politics, some of the nastiest battles are waged inside your mailbox. Oh, sure, there’s plenty of positive mailers. I don’t go more than a day or two without seeing Bobby Bliatout’s smile.
But as next week’s primary approaches — and don’t forget some of us are already voting — the tone tends to get nastier and more desperate while the facts become more specious.
The most glaring examples in this cycle come to us courtesy of Fresno City Council hopeful Nathan Alonzo and the friendly folks at the Fresno Chamber of Commerce. Take a bow, people.
As previously explained, the District 4 race between Alonzo and Tyler Maxwell could tilt future city policy no matter who gets elected mayor between Andrew Janz and Jerry Dyer.
In the last election, progressives Miguel Arias and Nelson Esparza swept to victory over opponents endorsed by Fresno’s political and business establishment. This time, those conservative interests are backing Alonzo, while Maxwell (an Esparza aide) has the progressive and blue-collar support.
Those battle lines are pretty clearly drawn. Still, that didn’t stop the Alonzo campaign from blurring them. How? By computer generating a Donald Trump Make America Great Again hat atop Maxwell’s head next to the words “Don’t fall for tricky and misleading Tyler Maxwell” in bright red lettering.
Underneath that, in smaller typeface, the mailer claims Maxwell is “a longtime, Trump-style conservative who will say anything to get elected” and identifies “Fresno County voter registration” as its source.
Notice the mailer didn’t claim Maxwell was a longtime Republican, which is something that could actually be checked in voter registration. It claimed he was a longtime “Trump-style conservative,” which cannot.
How accusatory, yet conveniently vague.
Two mailers, two opposite ‘truths’
I’m guessing the Alonzo campaign sent that mailer to registered Democrats. Because there’s also a very similar looking version (sent to Republicans, presumably) with the same headline and photo of Maxwell, except with no MAGA hat.
In that version, all vestiges of Maxwell’s Trump leanings have vanished. Now he’s portrayed as “a liberal Democrat who will create a veto-proof majority on the City Council to push reckless spending and tax increases.”
Two mailers, aimed at two different audiences, with two completely opposite political depictions of the same person.
And the Alonzo campaign has the nerve to claim Maxwell will say anything to get elected? Try looking in the mirror.
While Maxwell isn’t completely innocent here — his campaign also sent out negative mailers about Alonzo — nothing on them is as duplicitous as Alonzo putting Maxwell in a MAGA hat while pretending to stake the progressive turf.
Besides, Alonzo brought a lot of the “Who is Nathan Alonzo?” questions upon himself. No one forced him to switch from Republican to No Party Preference shortly before launching his campaign.
That alone is bound to raise eyebrows, no matter how pure the motivation.
Slinging mud over money
Then there’s the questionable mailer, paid for in part by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, targeting Janz in the mayoral race.
In bold yellow letters, the mailer asks “Who’s funding Andrew Janz’s political career?” before answering (in slightly smaller white lettering) “Not people from Fresno … .”
You have to squint a bit to discern the mailer doesn’t refer to this election cycle. The facts and percentages are based on Janz’s 2018 congressional race against Devin Nunes.
Flip the mailer over, and there’s a picture of Janz, smiling sheepishly while holding a paper bag stuffed full of cash. (Nevermind that Nunes and Dyer both outraised Janz by sizable margins.)
If the Fresno Chamber of Commerce wants to spend its members’ money on backing candidates it believes best serve their interests, fine. That’s entirely up to the chamber.
Still — and perhaps this is naive of me to even ask — shouldn’t Fresno’s business leaders be elevating the political discourse rather than sling misleading mud?
Oh, the hypocrisy
What gets me, though, is the hypocrisy.
The Fresno Chamber of Commerce would have us believe it is a bad thing that Janz collected a good chunk of his 2018 campaign donations from outside Fresno. Tsk tsk. (Even though Nunes does exactly the same thing and even brags about it on social media.)
But check the financial disclosure forms filed by the chamber’s Independent Expenditure Committee and see where the group spent its war chest. Tens of thousands on canvassing and polling and thousands more on professional services, graphic design and printing.
And you know what each of these payees have in common? Not a single one is based in Fresno. They’re from Chatsworth, Roseville, Gardena, Sacramento and Reno, Nevada. Everywhere but here.
Talk about a lack of support for local businesses. Sheesh.
While studies show that direct mail campaigns rank higher than TV spots, digital ads and even home visits in terms of effectiveness of political outreach, I’d venture most political mailers end up in the recycling bin.
Some deserve to get there more quickly than others.
