This should sober up today’s politicians and future candidates.
I just received in the mail a flyer that’s the most devastating hit piece I’ve ever seen. It shows snapshots from a California Highway patrol dashcam of the drunk-driving arrest of state Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) last May 2. He’s running for U.S. Congress in the 47th Congressional District to replace Rep. Katie Porter, who is running for U.S. Senate from California.
The flyer consists of eight fold-out panels from the dashcam that tell a story, as narrated by the red banners:
Who Doesn’t Like Dave Min?
On the last panel, it shows who paid for it: the United Democracy Project. It’s not one of his two main opponents. One is Scott Baugh, a former assemblyman and head of the Orange County Republican Party. He nearly beat Ms. Porter in 2022, losing 52 percent to 48 percent.
This is a Top Two race, meaning only two candidates, regardless of party, will go on to November. The 47th also is a major battleground race, crucial to control of the U.S. Congress. That’s why Democrats are attacking each other, instead of Mr. Baugh, who is expected to finish either first or second and go on to November.
Given Mr. Min and Ms. Weiss are almost identical on all issues, including support for Israel, why the animus toward Mr. Min? Jewish Insider continues, “The late activity from two leading national pro-Israel organizations has stirred speculation over the motivations behind their opposition to Min—which neither group has publicly clarified.
“In a statement, Mark Mellman, DMFI PAC’s chairman, said that Weiss, like every Democrat in its new slate of endorsements, ‘strongly supports the enduring U.S.-Israel relationship and, once elected, will oppose placing additional conditions on U.S. aid for Israel as it seeks to disarm and dismantle Hamas.’
“Min, for his part, has likewise expressed support for continued U.S. military aid to Israel, without extra conditions, and has won backing from a number of pro-Israel lawmakers.
“But even as he seems to be broadly aligned with his opponent on Middle East policy, DMFI ultimately concluded that Weiss was the stronger choice with regard to key issues concerning Israel, according to the source with knowledge of the group’s thinking, who asked to remain anonymous to address private conversations.
“The deciding factor, this person claimed, was that Min, after meeting with DMFI in recent months, refused to make edits to his Israel position paper that were requested by the group’s leadership.
“Among the issues was that DMFI had raised concerns about the language Min had used to endorse the memorandum of understanding guaranteeing U.S. aid to Israel over a fixed 10-year period. The group believed his wording was too vague, according to the source, and did not clearly specify if he would vote for the full annual funding amount.
“A spokesperson for Min’s campaign declined to comment.”
Tepid Min Response
Contrast that devastating anti-Min hit piece with Min’s tepid response, paid for by his own campaign:
It’s an amateurish job. It both praises Mr. Min, while on page 2, on the right, attacking Ms. Weiss. It’s too busy. It quotes the Daily Beast, a major fake news source, “Joanna Weiss appears to be running a congressional campaign fueled by money her husband earned defending the Catholic Church from child sexual abuse lawsuits.”
Appears to be? Is it or not? Well, don’t people and organizations have a right to a lawyer? Especially as Mr. Min and his wife also are lawyers—as is Ms. Weiss; and for that matter, so is Mr. Baugh. They’re all lawyers.
Changing Technology
Politicians always have come under moral scrutiny. It’s going to get more intense because of dashcams, bodycams, cams everywhere. George W. Bush was arrested for drunk driving in 1976 as a young man. Democrats dropped that on him at the end of the 2020 presidential campaign—an October Surprise. But it was brushed off as a “youthful discretion.” Crucially, there was no video. If there had been, Al Gore may have been elected president.What Goes Around ...
Full Disclosure: In 2020 I was Republican state Sen. John Moorlach’s press secretary and worked on his campaign when he was defeated for reelection by Mr. Min. The heaviest attack ads and flyers against Mr. Moorlach were by independent expenditures, mainly the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, which didn’t like how he pointed out their pensions were underfunded.It’s unlikely Mr. Min will survive these attacks. There’s an old saying: Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks.
