Sad attempt at smearing Box indicates real fear in incumbent LaBonge

How scared must Tom LaBonge be of Stephen Box?

The answer seems to be "a ton", and it's really kind of shocking.

Most newspapers won't publish smear material within a few days of an election, knowing full-well that smear is the obvious intent.  Yet today's LA Times published a pathetic smear piece about Stephen, dragging up some alleged old liens which have been resolved but are apparently not off someone's books. The Times not only published very late, but they held the story - and I use the term story very loosely - until election day.

Credit: Life.com

Only one individual with a vested interest in the outcome has the power to make the Times publish this non-issue this late in the game, and that would be the councilmember. This comes on the heels of LaBonge's campaign incorrectly calling both Box and O'Grady 'republicans' in phone solicitations and email from one of his very own council aides, and in at least one article with quotes from LaBonge insinuating that the fact that his challengers immigrated to the United States makes them somehow less suitable for the City Council.

Shame on Tom. He and I have had occasion to interact for nearly a decade now, and I've never known him to be this much of an idiot and a coward. He must really be scared.

As for the alleged liens, they're a non-issue. How many of us have crap on record that we weren't even aware of? That's exactly why everyone should check their credit reports from all three credit agencies annually, just for starters. A person in northern Cal with my same name led to a year of me being harassed by their creditors not too terribly long ago. It took an awful lot of of my personal time to convince these people that the fact that we had different social security numbers did, in fact, mean we were two different, entirely unrelated individuals.

But I digress.

Smear-mongers will say that a paper trail of old liens adds up to fiscal irresponsibility. They're dead-wrong. In reality, the exact opposite is the case. Old liens that were paid off shows that a person took full responsibility for debts owed during what may have been difficult financial times in their lives. That takes true strength of character, and  
Stephen Box has exactly that - strength of character.

Difficult financial times ares something a lot of people have experienced lately, perhaps for the very first time in their lives. Painting them all with a brush of 'irresponsibility' would be wrong. But then, doing the right thing seems to go out the window where Tom LaBonge and politics is concerned.

Today, vote for someone who has the strength of character to do the right thing when times get tough: 

Vote Stephen Box for CD 4.



Additional 11:30am:   Neon Tommy has a piece about the 'robot call' that claims LaBonge's opponents including Stephen Box are 'Tea Baggers'.