Capps campaign edits Chris Mitchum statement to distort his position in attack ad

With days remaining in the tightly contested 24th Congressional District race, Noozhawk, the online news service, published a video demonstrating that the campaign for Lois Capps (D-CA) who is seeking her 9th term in congress, cut off the end of a statement made by GOP opponent Chris Mitchum to make it appear that he didn’t “intend” to go to Washington to represent the district. The video, which also shows a tag on the end of the ad noting that Mrs. Capps had approved the message, was supplied by Mitchum for Congress representative Tab Berg who issue the following statement: 

Political operatives from the campaign of Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, recently released a new attack ad, editing statements made by Republican challenger Chris Mitchum to create a sound bite that never existed. “To be honest, my first reaction was laughter,” Mitchum said of the Capps commercial, which has been airing on television broadcasts in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. “The claim is so absurd it would almost be funny if the consequences for voters were not so serious.”

The commercial edits a 2012 statement from Mitchum, who, in a videotaped response to a question, says he will not go to Washington to fight for pork. “I do not intend to go to Washington, to represent the 24th District, to bring back baseball fields,” he says in the full clip, which is posted above.

The Mitchum campaign accuses the Capps campaign of editing the quote to make it sound as if Mitchum is saying he wouldn’t represent the 24th Congressional District. “Does Lois think I’m running for the 12th District?” Mitchum remarked when shown a copy of the ad. In a statement, Mitchum spokesman Tab Berg dismissed the ploy as an attempt at misdirection.

“The Capps campaign is faltering, despite being propped up with over a million dollars from special interests,” he said. “They can’t talk about accomplishments, so they’ve resorted to manufacturing fake quotes to attack Mitchum.

It is ironic that Capps, who votes with San Francisco Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi 97 percent of the time, would make up fake quotes about not representing the district.” “Her campaign must think voters are dumb,” Mitchum added. “But I think voters are smart enough to see through such amateurish fakery.”