Slate mailers, an increasingly popular form of political communication in California, are giving candidates new opportunities to reach the electorate--but are also undermining campaign finance rules and, according to critics, handing out endorsements to the highest bidder.
The multimillion-dollar business produces pamphlets sent to millions of voters. The pamphlets purport to list candidates endorsed by public service organizations but, in reality, candidates pay political consultants to appear on the mailings, bartering for the cost of an endorsement.
Normally, slate mailers operate in the background of the state's political campaigns, churning out mail but otherwise attracting little attention. This week, however, one of the groups was thrust into the limelight when the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bill Simon Jr., charged that Gov. Gray Davis had accepted campaign contributions on government property--which, if true, would have been illegal. The contribution, Simon alleged, had come from a law enforcement group known as the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, which operates one of the slates.
In the aftermath of those charges, which were quickly disproved, campaign disclosure reports revealed that Simon had paid $300,000 for a position on the group's mailings. The police group has given Davis its support in the past, but endorsed Simon over Davis this year after the GOP candidate bought a slot on its slate. Davis, a Democrat who ran essentially unopposed during the primary, refused to buy one.
The police group has received more than $750,000 in contributions to its slate mail committee during the first nine months of this year. Kelley Moran, the group's political director, was paid $175,000 in 2000, the last full election cycle.
A largely California phenomenon, slates allow little-known candidates who cannot normally afford television advertising a chance to get their name before the state's massive, diffuse electorate. Their backers say they give underdogs a chance against well-funded opponents and give the electorate what it wants.
Appealing to Voters
"If you find an electorate that is interested in reading political debate along the lines of the Federalist Papers, you will see consultants turning out literature along the lines of the Federalist Papers," said Daniel Lowenstein, a law professor at UCLA who represents slate mailers. "You turn out an electorate where it's hard to get their attention," he continued, and voters will find slate cards.
