One of the hottest legislative primaries in the state has evolved into a close contest with heavy involvement from PACs flooding mailboxes with hit pieces.  Sixty-Fifth Assembly District Republican primary candidates are seeing themselves painted in unflattering colors by PACs like the West Valley Young Republicans and the “Committee Against Corruption”.  The WVYRs have spent $104,000 so far on independent expenditures (by Meridian Pacific) opposing San Jacinto Councilman Jim Ayres ($42,000), Yucca Valley Mayor Paul Cook ($35,000) and Hemet Mayor Robin Lowe ($35,000), while supporting Banning Councilwoman Brenda Salas ($30,000).  The Upland-based Committee Against Corruption has spent $55,000 on the services of Delta Partners opposing Ayres.  See the San Bernardino County Sun’s coverage from yesterday.

One might ask why Mayor Cook, a retired Marine colonel with a ballot title that says so, has started to draw fire.  As a matter of fact, probably the biggest paradigm shift since my last comprehensive entry on this race has been the rise of Cook to top-tier status in this four-way battle.  So now the WVYRs have told voters that Cook is in the pockets of union bosses, having conceded to union demands by raising pension benefit increases for Yucca Valley employees from 2% to 2.7%.  That is, despite the fact that the Town of Yucca Valley doesn’t have a union and its workers are all employed by contract.  Though Cook (Consultant: Tab Berg) has improved dramatically in fundraising and voter contact, he still may need a shot in the arm if attacks continue to come his way, even with his great ballot title in this heavily military district and the fact that he’s the only major candidate from the San Bernardino County side.

On the fundraising front, Ayres (Consultants: Johnson-Clark) still has the advantage, with $439,000 total, $207,300 remaining on hand, and $17,300 so far in the late reporting period.  Salas (Consultant: Joe Giardiello) is second with $339,000 raised, $46,800 cash on hand, and $19,100 in late contributions.  Lowe (Consultant: Jim Nygren) has raised $301,000, with $60,350 on hand and no late contributions over $1,000.  Cook has raised $234,000, with $42,800 on hand and $37,200 in late contributions.

Ayres is using an intriguing strategy of laying low, allowing the other candidates to also get hit, aided by Ayres’ posting of opposition research on the other candidates on his website.  One big question is, what is Ayres going to do with all of that cash he still has?  And the “$64,000 question” (at least) is, what will be the impact of repeated negative messages aimed at Salas?  Salas was a staffer for Dem. Congressman Joe Baca before she re-registered three years ago and became a conservative … so she has some potential baggage to overcome there, as FlashReport‘s Riverside County Correspondent, Phil Paule, pointed out yesterday.

One might also ask, what’s a PAC based in San Bernardino County doing spending six figures to ensure victory for a Riverside County candidate?  San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus has been asking that question with increasing frequency of late.  You think Postmus (Consultant: Steve Presson) has his hands too full with his County Assessor race to get more heavily involved on behalf of Cook, his chosen candidate in this one?  If you’ve worked with Postmus for 13 years like I have, you’d know better.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.