Column about negative campaigning misleading

June 28, 2006

EDITOR: Don Bennett wrote a column on the 6th Assembly District race and the negative campaigning that occurred, associating it with councilmember and Democratic Assembly candidate Pamela Torliatt.

Bennett and the Argus-Courier know better than to mislead the readers and the public with an inaccurate representation.

In fact, the negative mailings against Supervisor Cynthia Murray were funded by independent expenditure committees based in Sacramento and Marin County. Contrary to Mr. Bennett's statement, Pamela Torliatt did not participate in any negative campaigning. Councilmember Torliatt is an outspoken advocate for clean campaigning and has continued to work to reduce the influence of money in our election process.

I have been and will continue to be a proud supporter of Councilmember Pam Torliatt because over the last 14 years she has served our community well. I know that any campaign she runs is always based on a positive, issue-based, grassroots effort. This Assembly race was no exception. I voted for her because she has integrity and a proven record to stand up for us, the citizens of Petaluma and the 6th Assembly District.

ELIZABETH EMERY MORI, Petaluma