Guest Column/Xandra Kayden, Ethics consultant
Campaigns are a competition and no one expects them to be easy, but they are being carried out in an increasingly nasty atmosphere. Yesterday’s practical jokes are today’s “dirty tricks,” partly because the joke is not so easy to unveil and partly because the electorate is angry.
America is more evenly divided than it has ever been, and we are farther apart on core issues. Political observers predict a nasty, close general election and a bitter aftermath no matter who wins. Presidential elections set the tone for campaigning for the ensuing four years, barring some significant political events, and while local elections have always been upfront and personal, they seem to be taking their cue from the top, and getting worse. Malibu is no exception. Elections here have always been difficult. The population isn’t very widely separated, but there is a deep chasm between the two sides. As one local observer defined it, the division is between “no growth advocates” and “painfully slow growth advocates.” It is human nature to feel the greatest disappointment with those who are closest to you, and maybe it is also human nature to always divide into two competing parties. But there are other factors as well.
There is a marked decline of civility in American culture in general. We are less formal with each other and have fewer of the social restraints that normally also act as restraints on emotion. In an ironic and almost counter-intuitive way, it is the absence of formal political parties that makes it harder to accept the fact that everyone doesn’t agree with us. When Democrats and Republicans compete for office, we accept the fact they represent competing philosophies of government and emphasize different values. Voters generally know where they stand because of the party label and it is easier for them to distinguish the candidates, and for candidates to blame their failures on larger issues. I am not recommending the polarized parties at the moment, but the point is that self-selected candidates stand for themselves in a very personal way. Neighbors have expectations about neighborliness, shared values and consensus. Angry neighbors always have a more difficult time of it just because they are close, their expectations are so high, and, today, their restraints so few.
The tactics are also more insidious, although your view of that may depend on which side of the trick you are on. Several voters have called to complain of a phone call this week saying they are calling for the Malibu City Council, encouraging them to vote for certain candidates. The call comes from a telemarketing firm called Teleperformance USA based in Salt Lake City, although the calls are actually coming from Illinois. The story is a lie and, unlike the push poll, since this is advocating the election of candidates, it is an independent expenditure that under the law should be disclosed within 24 hours of the expenditure. The City Council has not, and cannot, use city funds for such a campaign ploy, and the councilmembers deny authorizing such a call. Similar efforts were used in the last L.A. mayor’s race, when callers said they were calling for the Jewish community to back Steve Soboroff because he needed the money; and another with a woman saying her name was Gloria Molina, and she was withdrawing her endorsement of Antonio Villaraigosa. The latter was actually uncovered by the district attorney and it turned out to be coming from a phone bank connected to an organization supported by then city councilman Nick Pacheco.
Today’s technology makes a lot of things possible in the dirty tricks department. The person who commissions calls such as these can maintain anonymity, paying only a small fine if caught. The calls can be directed to voters most likely to be influenced because so much is known about our preferences and behavior. And their message is hard to hold up to the light of day to be challenged. The combination of nastiness, intensity and dirty tricks is turning off both voters and candidates. In the long run, the fate of such tactics will be decided in the voting booth.