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Candidate's literature comes up a little short

By C.T. BOWEN
Published August 30, 2006

I suddenly know how a restaurant or movie critic feels.

Grabbing a review and highlighting only the flattering part is a trick dating to before Siskel met Ebert. It's why this newspaper won't publish truncated versions of its own candidate recommendations during the campaign season. It's too easy to excise the criticism by focusing on a small snippet of the published commentary.

So imagine my chagrin to see my name attached to Commissioner Pat Mulieri's campaign literature. She quotes a portion of a November 2004 column as this:

"Mulieri's strong performance on constituent concerns, tireless work ethic ... brings her immense political popularity."

Well, almost.

Here's the full quote, which appeared in a Nov. 21, 2004, column about the early candidacy of her opponent Larry Delucenay, who filed his campaign papers in 2003.

"Mulieri's strong performance on constituent concerns, tireless work ethic, and let's face it, sometimes pandering positions, brings her immense political popularity in Republican circles."

The bold lettering is added here for emphasis. The words are missing entirely from Mulieri's literature, which arrived in our mailbox the other day.

Mulieri apologized Tuesday and said she thought she was covered by the use of the ellipsis. I pointed out the newspaper's copyright protection is intended for these instances.

"I actually had 'pandering' in originally," Mulieri said, "I saw that as a positive to some people."

But apparently, not enough people.

* * *

Speaking of ellipsis, state Rep. Ken Littlefield, R-Wesley Chapel, maintains that a column Tuesday left out a crucial piece of the time line concerning his pursuit of appointment to the Public Service Commission.

He is correct that I misidentified who had trimmed to six the list of 12 nominees recommended by the PSC Nominating Council. It was the legislative oversight committee, not the governor's office. That committee interviewed candidates in August and sent its short list, including Littlefield's name, to the governor Aug. 15, after the candidate qualifying deadline.

Still, it is hard for us to believe there was ever a chance Littlefield's name would be absent from the group of finalists.

The oversight committee is a panel of his fellow legislators, and Littlefield was the previous chairman. It also does not alter the fact that Littlefield pursued this appointment and interviewed with the PSC Nominating Council 10 days before the end of the candidate filing period.

* * *

The mailbag also brings the late-in-the campaign fliers from the candidates on the Sept. 5 primary ballot. No mud so far that I've seen.

Several judicial candidates this year are touting personal endorsements or using quotes from sitting elected officials to boost their appeal.

Public Defender Bob Dillinger's picture appears on mailers for 6th Circuit Court Group 9 candidate Christine Helinger and Pasco County Court Group 6 hopeful Anne Wansboro.

Helinger also includes a quote from Pasco County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand. Group 7 County Court candidate Anthony Salzano includes a personal endorsement and picture with Mike Fasano, but does not identify him as a state senator.

This week, the Florida Supreme Court's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee said it's all fine and dandy to use such endorsements as long as they are not partisan and the elected official isn't running for re-election. The published recommendation came after an inquiry from Salzano.

The ethics committee did offer candidates an additional piece of advice:

"Recent history shows a pattern of increasingly harsh sanctions against judges who employ inappropriate arguments on the campaign trail. Any judicial candidate is well advised to become familiar with those precedents."

Translation: Remember John Renke III.

Reach C.T. Bowen at (727) 869-6239 or bowen@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 30, 2006, 10:42:28]