Supervisor Das Williams sent a warm and fuzzy, full-color campaign mailer to his neighbors in Carpinteria this week, portraying himself as a Mr. Dad homeboy.
There was just one problem: he spelled "Carpinteria" wrong.
"Carpenteria's Own," the brochure trumpets, identifying Williams as, "Our Supervisor. Our Neighbor. Working for Us."
All righty then.
On one level, the misspelling is just a silly screw-up, the kind of clanger that afflicts nearly every political campaign at one point or another, in a business built on urgency, adrenalin and quick turnarounds.
From another angle, however, it's a humiliating unforced error in what should be a no-sweat re-election for Boss Das, not only because opponent Roy Lee is a city council member in (checks notes) Carpinteria -- but also because it validates Lee's critique of Williams as a career politician out of touch with his constituents, a moke with enough campaign cash to hire far-flung professional political consultants who can't manage to spell the name of his own town right, in a mailer targeted precisely at the voters of his own town.
In the end, the blunder is unlikely to impact Das's bid for a third term on the Board of Supervisors. But it's one more drop in a drip-drip-drip of missteps steadily eroding his political brand as he looks ahead for the next office he can run for.
At post time, Spencer Brandt, Williams' campaign manager, had not responded to a request for comment.
JR
