Phone calls leave mixed messages

Automated phone calls to voters in Yuba County's 3rd District that endorse supervisor candidate Michael Peterson are not coming from the business of his political rival despite a caller ID that shows otherwise.

Peterson is looking to replace Supervisor Mary Jane Griego and represent residents of Plumas Lake and Olivehurst.

Paul Myers, vice chair of the Yuba County Republican Central Committee, said he did record a message that claimed accomplishments for Peterson and faults of Griego. But he said he does not know why the caller ID on the calls say they are from Duke's Diner — Griego's family restaurant in Olivehurst.

"That doesn't make any sense," Myers said. "I never even read a phone number (in the phone message). I may have said people should call Griego and vote for Peterson."

Griego said she finds that hard to believe.

"These kinds of tricks don't need to be played," Griego said. "It just confuses the voters and pushes them on to my side. It's very deceitful and unfortunate that people run those types of campaigns."

Griego said she received several phone calls questioning her about the automated calls' origin.

The phone calls began May 6 and were routed to registered Republicans in Plumas Lake and Olivehurst. Myers said to send the automated calls, he called an automated system, recorded the message and sent it out.

Myers said the message endorsed Peterson and gave reasons to vote against Griego, including her support of supervisors' pay raises.

"It's true, she did vote for a pay raise," Myers said. "What the voters don't know is that it had been 20 years since supervisors received their last pay raise."

Myers said aside from door-to-door visits, automated calls are the second-most effective way to run a campaign.

Myers said he was contacted by the group "The friends of Mike Peterson" to record the message.

Peterson, though, said that group was created by him and he doesn't approve of "dirty politics."

"This is not the way I do business," Peterson said.

Peterson said he was OK with the content of the message, but told Myers he didn't want it to say it was from Duke's Diner.

Businessman John Mullikin is also running for the 3rd District seat.