Not so fast Dicky boy

Lansing State Journal: DeVos ad: Campaign hurts itself with disingenuous attack ad DeVos ad: Campaign hurts itself with disingenuous attack adA Lansing State Journal editorial Dick DeVos and his campaign for governor have tried to pull a fast one on mid-Michigan viewers with a new ad that makes reference to the Lansing State Journal. This ad, designed to erode Gov. Jennifer Granholm's image, does quite the opposite. It illustrates DeVos' unwillingness to play straight with voters. At issue is a brief TV spot that makes two text references to the LSJ. Citing the newspaper, the commercial says of Granholm, "It's all negative all the time out of the Granholm camp" and "... on a mission to get re-elected ... perhaps at any cost." But what DeVos' ad conveniently fails to note is the comments were in a April 28, 2006, column by Tim Skubick, a State Capitol reporter who writes commentaries for a number of state newspapers. For the record, in the same column, Skubick wrote " ... on the subject of those DeVos ads, it's truly amazing that viewers have apparently been sucked in." Just because the LSJ publishes Skubick's column doesn't mean the paper endorses the views therein, anymore than when we publish letters that take diametrically opposed stands on any issue under the sun. The DeVos campaign could and should have been clear about that in the ad. In fact, after being contacted, the campaign said it would modify the TV commercial to make the distinction. The fact DeVos wasn't clear to begin with is telling, though. What the ad tried to do was say, see voters, even the Lansing newspaper knows Granholm is doing wrong. Nor is that an isolated incident. The Detroit Free Press reports the DeVos campaign will alter references to that paper in its ad that implied the Free Press had used words actually employed by one of its columnists, Brian Dickerson. Michigan has lots of issues to discuss in this year's gubernatorial campaign. DeVos and his team should work on them, instead of working to fool the voters.