CalCoastNews: Lois Capps accused of deception

October 30th.  The heated race between Rep. Lois Capps and her challenger Chris Mitchum for the 24 District seat just got hotter with Mitchum accusing Capps of running a deceptive attack ad. In the Capps’ commercial currently playing on several local stations, a 2012 statement by Mitchum is edited distorting what the Republican challenger said. In the non-edited statement, Mitchum said he will not go to Washington to fight for pork while Capps’ ad makes it appear that he said he will not go to Washington to represent the people of the 24 District. CLICK GRAPHIC FOR CAPPS’ AD & MITCHUM’S ACTUAL STATEMENT:

“I do not intend to go to Washington to represent the 24 District,” Metchum says in the Capps’ commercial. In the un-edited version, Mitchum said, “I do not intend to go to Washington to represent the 24 District, to bring back baseball fields. That’s not why I’m going.”

Capps’ commercial and a clip of Mitchum’s 2012 statement:

In response to the ad, Mitchum sent a letter to Capps asking her to cease and desist running the commercial.

“Here at the Mitchum campaign, we know it’s up to us to keep the campaign clean, spot on the issues that affect every voter, and run our race on the merits,” Mitchum’s campaign staff says on his website. “The incumbent obviously does not think that way.”

Capps campaign spokesperson Chris Meagher told KEYT he does not see anything wrong with the ad.

“Mr. Meagher has said from the very beginning, through two campaigns, that he intends to go to Washington to represent a very narrow political party.”

Capps past year has been marred with controversy. The parents of the woman fatally injured when a legislative aide for Capps struck her and then drove away filed a lawsuit against the driver Raymond Morua, Capps and the federal government.