Tim Risch is running against Tony Spitaleri for the Sunnyvale City Council.

Recently Risch mailed a hit piece against Spitaleri, which was possibly the most vicious ever seen in Sunnyvale politics. It callously detailed painful and personal family financial difficulties of the past, which had absolutely no relationship to any city council issue. (The flier is posted at www.thetruthabouttony.org.)

Also included in the hit piece were personal attacks made against Spitaleri in old articles from a Palo Alto newspaper when Spitaleri was advocating an increase to the city budget for Palo Alto firefighters.

I voted for Tim Risch twice before, but I will not vote for him this November.

Risch has many fine qualities but his campaign exposes a character/values flaw that disqualifies him for public office. He made himself a poster child for an aspect of politics which voters vigorously reject--dirty campaigns using soft-core slander by innuendo.

Voters will always picture Risch wearing a large scarlet letter "A" for ashamed, as he should be.

Robert E. Lawson

Sunnyvale