by Willa Porter, Dana Point
What is going on in our small town?
During recent elections there has been a flux of robo calls and slate mailers. These are printed cards that claim to be an “Official Public Safety Voter’s Guide,” “Tax Fighters Voters Guide,” “Taxpayers for Safer Neighborhoods,” etc. These slate cards are 100 percent paid advertisements printed and mailed out by for-profit entities. They have no affiliation with the groups they claim to represent. In fact, many of them are put out by the same individuals or companies.
Beware of slate mailers full of negative—and usually somewhat shocking—comments. Don’t let these for-profit mailers designed by an anonymous person slamming a candidate fool you into thinking that this is the truth!
One example in our local area is the hate mailers and robo calls spreading lies about one of our candidates for the South Coast Water District, Dick Dietmeier.
Mr. Dietmeier is one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever interviewed about water and desalinization. Furthermore, he is always out there donating his time and energy to the many nonprofits here in Dana Point.
If you really want to know who to vote for, attend a candidate forum, talk to your neighbors who know them or call directly and find out where they stand.
If we want to continue to have a wonderful well-run community, we cannot make our choices based on lies.
So it happened again… another barrage of negative mailing pieces from a disgruntled former City Councilman.
Dick Dietmeyer survived the onslaught this time. Maybe the public is finally catching on. Hope so.