With only three weeks to go until the election. the dirty campaign tricks get stickier.
Top of the list of dirty tricks this week is the person(s) who pasted “Vote Malia Cohen” stickers atop the image of D10 candidate Dewitt Lacy on door hangers that the SF Democratic Party and the SF Labor Council produced jointly for the November 2010 election. According to Lacy supporters, the offending stickers cropped up primarily on door hangers distributed on Potrero Hill, where Lacy lives, works and has a strong following.
The door hanger features a photo of Jerry Brown for Governor on one side—and thumbnails of the Dem/Council’s local picks on the other. These local picks include Newsom for Lt. Governor, Kamala Harris for Attorney General, Janet Reilly for D2 Supervisor, Carmen Chu for D4 supervisor, Debra Walker for D6 supervisor, Rafael Mandelman for D8 Supervisor and Dewitt Lacy and Malia Cohen for D10–except you can’t see Lacy’s face on the doorhangers that have been disfigured by Cohen stickers.
Historically, the SF Democratic Party only includes the picture of its top ranked candidate on door hangers, and this fall, the DCCC (the endorsing body of the local Dem Party) endorsed Lacy as its first-ranked candidate, Cohen as its second ranked candidate and Eric Smith as its third ranked candidate.
“But we included both Dewitt and Malia on this door hanger because we are doing it with the Labor Council and we have two different first-ranked candidates,” former Board President and current DCCC chair Aaron Peskin told the Guardian, noting that the Labor Council endorsed Cohen as top-ranked and Chris Jackson as its second-ranked candidate.
Cohen’s campaign manager Megan Hamilton told the Guardian that the Cohen campaign was “aware” of the stickers.
“But we did not put the stickers there,” Hamilton said.
Lacy, who dropped by the Guardian with dozens of defaced door hangers in hand, said a stream of supporters have complained about this latest dirty trick.
‘It’s misleading,” Lacy said. ‘If folks haven’t been paying attention, they won’t understand that I have been endorsed as the Democratic Party’s top choice.”
Lacy said the door hangers were distributed a couple of weeks ago at the DCCC’s election season kick-off event to people who were going to walk precincts.
”Of course, at that time, the door hangers weren’t terribly disfigured by someone sticking a ‘vote for Malia Cohen’ sticker over my smiling face,” Lacy added. “But it shows that these folks are nervous about the inroads my campaign has been making in this race. After each forum we have had folks come up to us and say they are excited by our campaign because they are looking for hope and leadership that really represents them.”
So what does Lacy, the top choice of the Democratic Party, look like when he doesn’t have a sticker over his face?
All smiles, after he completed his interview with the Guardian, which gave him its second-ranked endorsement in the D10 race, with Tony Kelly in top place and Chris Jackson in third.