In law school, the professors instruct their litigators in training to do the following:
“When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the law is on your side, argue the law. When neither is on your side, pound the table.”
Apparently state prosecutor Al Muratsuchi is pounding every table in sight, since neither the facts, nor the law, nor the voters, nor the anti-special interest sentiment of the South Bay are on his side.
First, he smears small business owner Craig Huey as an “anti-choice” Todd Akin acolyte, when nothing could be further from the truth. Huey is pro-life, pro-woman, and incidentally enough, more “pro-choice” than Muratsuchi and the Democratic Party. During the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, the party removed “safe, legal, and rare” from their platform on abortion. Even more astounding, this language was first adopted by President Bill Clinton, the Keynote speaker at the convention. What an insult to their own people and every voter in the country, that the Democratic Party has advanced a policy of abortion at any time on the government’s dime. The vast majority of voters in this country do not support so extreme a position.
Since that has not worked, Muratsuchi has played up Huey as a corrupt businessman who markets broken or bad merchandise. However, Huey’s track record of 35 plus years in the private sector cannot coast on lies, deceit, and cheating. That’s the beauty of a free market, in which consumers are free to choose to endorse or reject the products of the business. Of course, not just his tenure, but his award-winning legacy indicates his stellar accomplishments in the advertising industry. An extensive award-winner in his field, Craig Huey, the head of Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc ., has won such accolades as two Gold Awards for Best Newsletter Promotion, Best Direct Mail Package, and three “Best Of” awards from the Web Marketing Association. These successes may mean very little to voters who have little knowledge of the industry, yet organizations do not recognize incompetence or mediocrity, either, lest they tarnish their own brand. With seventy-seven awards of excellence in his industry — plus a seat on a committee to monitor the efficiency and effects of school spending, one would think that a state prosecutor would seek out something legitimate to attack Huey.
Joe Trippi, a political strategist for Janice Hahn, ran a biased attack ad-article in The Huffington Post during Huey’s Congressional run. His oblique references take Huey’s comments out of context. “Using fear” to engage the attention (not necessarily the support) of a prospective reader is normal – all political candidates do this. Trippi’s article pastes a bunch of hyperlinks with nothing connecting Huey, criminality, or liability. A lot of pounding on the table.
Putting aside facts and law, let’s look at what’s on Muratsuchi’s table. In one ad, he asserts that since he has stood up to criminals, he can stand up to the special interests. This set -up sounds more like contortionists’ send-up, for how can anyone stand up to anyone who is behind you in the first place? Public sector unions up and down the state have showered Muratsuchi with hundreds of thousands of dollars. I asked the Torrance School Board Member directly why he refused to give back the $8,000 which he received from the California Teachers Association, the same special interest which has shoveled millions of dollars toward hand-picked candidates in order to shove education reform into the trash heap in Sacramento. Why do our students have to file law-suits in order to protect their own education? Why does it take twenty years before teachers accused of repeated misconduct are removed from the classroom, and yet receive a severance package and a pension notwithstanding? Why are cities going broke around the state, burdened with pension and benefits obligations beyond their scope to pay?
The power of public sector unions has intimidated council members and city leaders already, along with leaders in Sacramento who are supposed to stand up for us the voters, the taxpayers, the parents and teachers. How then can we believe that Mr. Muratsuchi can take their money with one hand then push them away with the other? He has refused to give back the special interest money, he has refused to sign the “Protect Prop 13 Pledge” – he has neither law, nor facts, on his side. And people are tired of tired politicians who pound the table with blame and shame defamation.
The facts are that Huey is free of such debilitating influences. The laws of supply and demand also state that the state of California cannot continue to tax and spend its way out of debt and deficit, as jobs flee California. Muratsuchi even rejects Prop 32, an open initiative with no loopholes, yet on his flyers he also indicates his opposition. Is Muratsuchi signaling the voters or the very special interests he claims that he will stand up to?
Stop Pounding the Table, Al! Or Get out of the Race!