Charges ‘Watergate-Style Tactics’ : Cantos Accuses Killea Campaigner of Spying

Accusing Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) of using “Watergate-style tactics,” Republican state Assembly candidate Earl Cantos Jr. charged Monday that one of Killea’s paid campaign workers masqueraded as a Cantos volunteer in order to “gather intelligence” on his campaign.

Killea disputed Cantos’ allegation, characterizing it as an attempt by her opponent to “create some controversy . . . over a non-issue” in the late stages of their 78th District race.

At a news conference at his Old Town campaign headquarters, Cantos said that Ken Erhardt, a well-known local political activist, visited Cantos’ office at least three times in August and September, volunteering to walk precincts, distribute campaign literature and sell tickets to a fund-raiser for Cantos. Erhardt never performed any of those duties, Cantos said, but later was paid $500 by Killea’s campaign for “professional services,” a factor that Cantos argued “surely does suggest impropriety.”

“Besides being downright dishonest, this is an incredibly foolish move for a state assemblywoman to be associated with,” Cantos said. “Is she so afraid of me that she has to spy on me? Is her campaign management so inexperienced that they direct their own campaign workers to engage in Watergate-style tactics against me?”

Jim Cunningham, Killea’s campaign manager, denied that Erhardt was “a spy or anything like that.” Rather, Erhardt was paid $500 last summer to do some polling, “sort of a pulse of the community-type thing,” Cunningham said.

Killea herself said that she was “perplexed and annoyed” at Cantos’ demand for an apology over what Cantos characterized as “a possible . . . ‘dirty trick’ “--an allegation that the two-term assemblywoman vigorously denied.

Cantos demanded “an immediate explanation (or) an apology” from Killea in a letter that he sent to her on Monday detailing his allegations about Erhardt’s activity.

“This whole thing is much ado about nothing,” Killea said. Noting that candidates’ campaign literature “always is easily obtainable,” Killea added that she would have “no reason at all to send someone into (Cantos’) headquarters to do something like that.”

According to Cantos, Erhardt visited his campaign headquarters when it opened in August and returned in mid-September, when, saying that he wanted to volunteer his services, he took a precinct registration list and about 300 campaign brochures costing about $50. Although Erhardt promised to walk the precinct and return the list, he did neither, Cantos said.

Also in September, Erhardt took several invitations to a Cantos fund-raiser attended by Gov. George Deukmejian, saying that he intended to sell tickets to the event, which he never did, Cantos added.

“He was always very inquisitive about what was happening in my campaign and about our future plans,” Cantos said of Erhardt. “I think it’s highly unlikely that he kept coming back and back without anybody in the Killea campaign knowing that he was coming back.”

Erhardt, who has worked in many local campaigns, most recently in San Diego City Councilman Bill Cleator’s unsuccessful mayoral race last spring, could not be reached for comment Monday. The telephone number that Erhardt listed on a Cantos volunteer card had been disconnected.

Killea campaign manager Cunningham, meanwhile, stressed that Erhardt “has never even been in our campaign office” and was paid simply to conduct two polls identifying issues of concern in the 78th District. Erhardt is not currently on Killea’s campaign payroll, Cunningham added.

“He was paid for that one project, and that’s been our only contact with him,” Cunningham said.

Killea explained that Erhardt had suggested the informal polls, one of which was conducted in September and the other early this month.

The Killea campaign’s payments to Erhardt were listed on a financial disclosure statement released three weeks ago. Asked why he had not raised his allegations then rather than in the race’s final week, Cantos denied deliberately trying to create an 11th-hour campaign issue.

“We didn’t want to bring out anything in the press until we were sure of our facts and had our information documented,” Cantos said.