One stated that the candidates were "the team for Democratic Voters," while the other flier promoted the same slate as a Republican group.

The slate mailers may have come as a surprise to some residents, as Sunnyvale City Council elections are nonpartisan and Chu and Swegles are Democrats, Fussell is a Republican and Hamilton is an Independent.

One of the only connections between all four of the slated candidates is an endorsement by the Public Safety Officers Association.

According to Vic Aljouny, a political consultant with the association, the PSOA paid for both mailers.

Both fliers had disclaimers that stated neither flier was affiliated with an official political party.

Otto Lee, a Democrat—not on the slate—who won last week against James Fussell, said the fliers were misleading. "I would have hoped that in this election we could have avoided this kind of deceit. My opponent is not even a Democrat," said Lee.

"This happens in every election cycle," said Aljouny, "but typically the candidates who are not astute enough to sign those slate cards scream foul later."

But the connection to political parties wasn't the only misleading information.

The company that printed the fliers didn't use Fussell's photo. Instead, the man pictured next to James Fussell's name was uniformed Sunnyvale Public Safety Officer Jim Maletesta. "Just an honest mistake," according to Aljouny.

"There are all kinds of slate cards. We were just trying to get name ID out there for our candidates," said Aljouny.

Slate mailers are a profit-making business for many companies during elections.

The same company that produced the two slate mailers has come under fire in the press in the past for labeling Republican candidates as Democrats in other nonpartisan elections.

In hindsight, Fussell said he would never agree to be a part of slate fliers again. "I don't see how this could have helped me. I think all it did was confuse voters," said Fussell, who lost to Lee in the Nov. 4 election.