Fines would be fine in call case

For a candidate who received just more than 1,600 votes to be embroiled in a controversy in a race in which the winner got more

than 12,000 must seem silly to some. However, we must respond due to

our name being bandied about with impunity.

First of all, we never approved any Dave Ellis-generated phone

bank calls in the days preceding the Newport Beach City Council

election. We do not know Aaron Elder, Sound Media Group or any Brian

Schwartz. [Editor’s note: The spelling of the name or even the

existence of Brian Schwartz, who supposedly made a call naming Ron

Winship as the Greenlight candidate in District 4, has not been

confirmed.]

We applaud the efforts of Rick Taylor in tracking down the genesis

of this total misrepresentation.

Now, having said that, the actual text of the message sent was

quite correct. We were early Greenlight supporters and we did help

defeat the Koll project. So why would we be so concerned? Because

other phone bank issues were also misstated, at best. We received

computer-generated phone calls from Supervisor Jim Silva and others

stating that Councilman Gary Adams was “the only Republican in

District 4, and that his opponent has been a lifelong Democrat.” We

took offense at that phone call because we have never registered

Democratic in our lives and, in fact, were endorsed for the

Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees by the Corona

del Mar California Republican Assembly, which only endorses qualified

Republicans. This misrepresentation was obvious and was certainly

made to infer a serious negative for our campaign.

Ellis has a reputation for slimy conduct, so we do appreciate his

public apology. As someone once said: “Welcome to politics.” However,

we believe that apology doesn’t quite balance the books.

Following the Ellis thought process, we could easily have called

every Newport Beach resident and said: “Hi, this is Charles Manson

and I encourage you to vote for Gary Adams ... he is the only one who

supports my appeal to get out.” Undoubtedly, the lawsuits would have

been flying had that happened.

Let’s just say this: Actions have consequences. And Ellis and

company should pay a very hefty fine for bad campaign practices, at

least. If we don’t have a law, we need one.

Remember, you always get the government you deserve.

RON AND ANNA WINSHIP

Newport Beach

* Ron Winship ran for the District 4 seat on the Newport Beach

City Council and for a seat on the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District Board of Trustees.