Alliance denounces PAC 11th-hour ‘dirty tricks’

An unusual alliance spoke out Friday against what it called “a last-minute attempt to deceive voters” in the Coeur d’Alene City Council races. “We are here to shine light on the practice of a few extremists who seek to manipulate the course of our elections, and do the voting public a great disservice,” said Sandy Patano, who has been active in the Republican Party for decades. “These people seek to destroy opposing candidates by using false information at the last possible moment to attack their integrity.” She said the people behind the political attacks are the same few people who used similar tactics in the past few elections.

“As we head into the final days of this campaign, I urge everyone not to be taken in by the dirty tricks of Brent Regan, Greg Pruett and others who would seek to manipulate Idaho’s election laws and hide from the light,” she said. Patano said Regan, and a handful of others, formed a political action committee named Responsible CDA this week to avoid campaign finance disclosures until after the election on Tuesday. They are using the PAC to send out fliers attacking Councilman Ron Edinger and former Kootenai County Clerk Dan English/ Jeff Selle , Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.

Question: How effective are last-minute attack fliers?