Pubdate: Thu, 3 Sep 1998
Source: Arizona Republic (AZ)
Contact:  http://www.azcentral.com/news/
Author: Mike McCloy

KAITES ACCUSES FOE, HIT BY OWN MUD 

Behind In Polls, He Turns Foe's 'record' Into Issue

Sen. John Kaites was behind in the polls. And he had only enough money
in his campaign for attorney general to buy TV ads in the final week
before next Tuesday's primary election.

So he hauled out a bucket of mud and threw it.

Only by the end of Wednesday, the mud had splattered on
him.

Kaites accused his Republican opponent Tom McGovern of being a
criminal, pointing to a 15-year-old incident in which McGovern was
arrested with a BB pistol in the trunk and marijuana residue in an
ashtray of his brother's car. The charges were dropped.

McGovern crashed the news conference Wednesday and declared, "It is a
lie."

He then joined Attorney General Grant Woods in signing an affidavit
saying neither McGovern nor Woods had ever used an illegal substance,
and they challenged Kaites to do the same.

Kaites refused to sign the statement and told reporters that he had
not broken any law "that I know of."

When Kaites was called later, campaign spokeswoman Kim Harris told The
Arizona Republic, "He tried marijuana in high school, did not like it,
and that's the end of the story."

The stunning exchange climaxed weeks of intensive campaigning between
the two that has grown from sarcastic remarks and hit-piece mailings
to charges of lies and now ugly theater.

McGovern acknowledged that he had been arrested in New Jersey in 1983
with a BB pistol in the trunk and marijuana residue in an ashtray of
his brother's car.

"Though I was charged, all of this was dismissed," McGovern
said.

Copies of the arrest record were given to the news media in February
as Kaites launched his campaign for attorney general, but it was not a
major issue in the campaign until Tuesday night.

That is when a Channel 8 (KAET) poll showed McGovern leading Kaites by
12 points, or 32 percent to 20 percent, with 48 percent of likely
Republican voters undecided. And that is when Kaites switched from TV
commercials on major Valley stations about his background as a
prosecutor to a spot depicting jailhouse bars closing on McGovern's
bearded face.

"Tom has a record - not as a prosecutor, but as a criminal," the
commercials say.

At a news conference Kaites called Wednesday afternoon, Kaites
declared, "Everything in that advertisement is true," even though he
acknowledged that no charges had been been filed in the case. Police
in Sea Isle, N.J., where the incident occurred, forwarded their
complaints to the county prosecutor, who dismissed them.

"Mr. McGovern was arrested," Kaites said. "He was said by the police
to have been in possession of marijuana and in possession of a gun.
Those are crimes. You don't necessarily have to be convicted to have
committed a crime."

Janet Napolitano, a former U.S. attorney and the only Democrat running
for attorney general, said that explanation does not square with the
requirement for proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is used for a
conviction in federal and state courts.

"It's the same standard as when you watched Perry Mason as a kid," she
said. But it apparently was lost in the heat of the GOP primary, she
said, adding, "The last time I saw a fight this bad, Mike Tyson was
spitting a piece of an ear."

Spending more than $250,000 apiece, Kaites and McGovern have appeared
jointly more than 50 times over the past six months.

Competition between the two lawyers evolved into sarcasm, with
McGovern sneeringly referring to Kaites as "Buster Bad-ass" for
posturing as a criminal prosecutor after serving only 27 months in
that capacity.

They have trashed each other with mailed "hit pieces" over the past
two weeks.

McGovern has accused Kaites of opposing adult trials for violent
juveniles, even though Kaites has been a leading proponent of that
change in the criminal justice system.

Kaites' mailer to Republicans compared McGovern to President Clinton,
listing a half-dozen "lies" - including McGovern's claims to have
prosecuted as many criminal cases as Kaites has, and having a caseload
that included two executions of death row inmates.

Both candidates have agreed issues such as public protection from
violent criminals, civil rights and a massive state lawsuit against
the tobacco industry are major.

But, with advice from former Gov. Fife Symington's aides Chuck
Coughlin and Wes Gullett, Kaites chose McGovern's old arrest record
for the focus of his final foray on TV.

Asked why he used an issue that emerged more than six months ago,
Kaites said, "All I had was enough money to buy TV in the last 10 days
before the election."

He insisted that "character does matter."

"The truth does matter, that's why we're running this
ad."

He accused McGovern of relating "a different version" of the arrest
incident each time he was asked about it. However, the differences
Kaites listed mostly are between McGovern's comments and those of the
police and details in coverage by Valley newspapers and radio stations.

McGovern said he told Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Woods
about the arrest when he announced, but he did not tell the voters
because, "Maybe there was a glimmer of hope that my opponent was not
as calculating as he proved to be."

Arpaio joined Woods at McGovern's news conference. The sheriff and the
retiring attorney general said McGovern had told them about the arrest
before it was revealed to the news media.

"It was really nothing," Arpaio said. "When you see some of these
commercials, it's sickening.

"The people are smart. The people out there can read through all this
garbage."
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Checked-by: Patrick Henry