Fraudulent "Voter Guide" in California!

I'm a voter in the Los Angeles area and usually about a week before the election "voter guides" come in that help to sort through all the various bills and propositions we have to vote directly on here.  Sometimes they're useful to bring with to the election.

So today I received one in the mail called Voter Information Guide for Democrats.

It features a big smiling photo of Diane Feinstein and a big No on Proposition 85 on the cover.  Prop 85 is the wingnut attempt to force teenaged girls to involve their parents in their reproductive rights if they get pregnant.

So far so good, right?  The cover alone sounds like it's on our side.  But wait...

Inside the folded paper the argument lists only democrats as those you should vote for.  Phil Angelides, Jerry Brown, Cruz Bustamante, Dianne Feinstein, etc.  

Again, so far so good, right?

At this point I assumed the flyer was legit and was considering bringing it with me to help me figure out the 13, yes 13 different propositions on the election.

And then I looked closer...

... and compared it to my Moveon.org recommendation email I recieved yesterday.

And here are the key differences:

This "Voter Information Guide," with no explanation, recommends I vote NO on Proposition 86, 87 and 89, all of which moveon.org recommends I vote YES on.

Prop 87 is, of course, the attempt to force oil industries to pay some of their record profits into alternative fuel investment and research.

So who sent me this flyer?

It's listed as sent by the mysteriously named:

VOTER INFORMATION GUIDE
13701 Riverside Dr.  #604
Sherman Oaks, CA  91423

After playing around in Google, I managed to uncover the following info about who lives at this address:

Lloyd E. Levine
Assemblymember's
Legislative Director
          [phone]
levine4assembly@
hotmail.com
13701 Riverside Dr #604
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423    

Weird.  He's registered as a dem.

Here's Levine's home page:

http://www.assembly.ca.gov/...

So why is Lloyd E. Levine, purported democrat, sending me a generic loking "Voter Information Guide" claiming to be all about the democratic party that's also pro-Big Oil by telling me to vote no on Prop 87, perhaps the most significant proposition to help develop alternative fuels we've had since BushCo took over the country?

Am I missing something?

I assumed the democratic party was uniformly supporting Prop 87, not to mention YES on 86 and 89?

Is this piece of mail a clever propaganda piece to make me think it's pro-democrat but trick me into voting NO on three key propositions?  Or is the democratic party simply split on these issues?

Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated.

•  Hmmmmmm

  I smell dead fish.  Sharp investigating; good job.

  by UneasyOne on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:33:21 PM PDT

  •  thanks

    I think something's up with this, and I KNOW that these sorts of voter guides are brought by many people too busy to research what each proposition is.

    It looks exactly like a dem voter guide, recommends you vote a straight dem ticket, then swaps out the proposition votes very subtly.

    This HAS to be an intentional scam.

    by WinSmith on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:36:38 PM PDT

    •  Look a little closer at that voter guide.

      These are common and have been used for decades. They have NOTHING to do with party affiliation and no one should EVER use them to decide how they will vote.

      If you look a little closer, I think you will find a disclaimer that says something to the effect that certain of the "endorsements" that appear on the guide were paid for. Usually they identify them with an asterisk.

      These are nothing but campaign advertisements paid for by the folks with the asterisks. Everything else on the guide was put there to sway voters. The same guide may have been sent to Repub voters with Repub candidates but the same paid endorsers.

      by KingOneEye on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:55:34 PM PDT

•  You got a sonofabitch motherfuck on your hands

  A walking piece of shit.  More common than ever, these days.  Be careful, and go slow...they are fucking lethal.

  by Nathan Hammersmith on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:37:24 PM PDT

•  good work!

  I'm gonna look out for that one.   If I can find it in the countless flyers and mailers I keep getting.

  What a schmuck!

  by theyrereal on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:42:52 PM PDT

•  Strange

  According to this website, Lloyd Levine has endorsed Prop 87:

  http://www.yesonprop87.com/...

  And he also seems to be on the right side of energy issues:

  http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/...

  http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/...

  I wouldn't jump to any conclusions.

  by johnny rotten on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:45:40 PM PDT

•  Moveon.org?

  I just looked at their site and can't find their recommendations for this election. I got this same 'voter guide' today, and if you hadn't given me the 'heads up' here, I would have taken that with me to the polls, and recommended it to others.  So thanks!  

  by Piano Legs on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:47:08 PM PDT

•  the "pay for play" voter guides are a huge

  "For profit" business in CA, and never to be trusted.

  The address is the Larry E. Levine campaign business office. It also has a private consulting business called: LARRY LEVINE & ASSOCIATES, Larry S. Levine, Owner, 13701 Riverside Dr., Ste. 604, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423, 818-906-8747, listed on the American Association of Political Consultants membership roster. Probably his dad or brothers business?

  by ca democrat on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:49:03 PM PDT

•  Read the fine print...

  I got one too. I've been sleuthing and scratching my head over it as well. Look at the asterisks beside the propositions. That means Levine Associates was paid for the endorsement. No asterisk, no money traded hands. He's a grifter. It's a family enterprise, his brother is the politician, he's the campaign manager. Just a sleazy opportunist, is my best guess

  by Rxtr2 on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 08:51:52 PM PDT

•  I got one as well

  Already threw it out.  I just assumed the CA democrats were being dense.

  by RallyPoint on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 09:03:06 PM PDT

•  yes on 86, 87, 89, no on 90!

  good catch! less informed people may be duped. you can download a cool guide here:

  http://www.couragecampaign.org/...

  by Todd Beeton on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 09:06:47 PM PDT

•  Have fun with mine...

  I received today in the mail

  National Guard Association of California PAC Voter Guide

  Tom McClintock-Lieutenant Governor
  Tony Strickland-controller
  Steve Ponizner-Insurance Commissioner
  Claude Parrish-Treasure
  Jerry Brown-Attorney General
  Yes on 85.

  postage is paid by PRSRT STD-US Postage-PAID-DMH   ..... WTF?

  by Chamonix on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 09:28:59 PM PDT

•  the paid slate mailers are crap...

  ...and should probably be outlawed along with robocalls. speak out ca, like the courage camp one someone mentioned, has an independent progressive one...

  http://speakoutca.org/...

  i doubt this actually had something to do with lloyd levine, he's not a bad guy.

  by da on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 10:17:03 PM PDT

•  Here's the skinny on that "Voter Guide"

  The oil company-funded No On 87 campaign paid $300,000 to Larry Levine to be part of that fake "Democratic" slate-mailer.  It's all on http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov.

  The Yes on 87 campaign has responded with THIS VIDEO.

  by MediumBinderClips on Fri Nov 03, 2006 at 09:07:37 PM PDT