Bad Ad Didn't Deserve an Investigation

The despicable radio ads fanning unfounded fears about petition circulators and identity were wrong. But an investigation of said ads would be wrong, too.

So it was good to see Attorney General Kamala Harris dismiss a request for an investigation of the labor-funded group funding the ads. An investigation would have turned a political dispute into a legal and perhaps criminal matter. What would be the point?

In this case, politics worked like it should. The ads went on the air. They were denounced -- and discredited -- by media organizations and groups that fight actual identity theft. And the backers, who at first were secret, came forward and will bear the consequences of their association with these ads.

Of course, the irony of this news is rich. The group behind the ads denounced the call for an investigation as a frivolous attempt to advance a phony legal claim. True, but the same could be said of their own ads.

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