Who’s behind those negative campaign ads?

Campaign ads hitting the airwaves are getting increasingly ugly now that November’s election is just weeks away.

One race has been particularly nasty, the State Senate race between Former Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia and County Supervisor Jeff Stone, both republicans. But who is really behind the negative TV ads?

The ad in question dramatizes a road rage incident that Stone admits happened.

“He apologized to me, I apologized to him for allegedly cutting him off, that was the end of the issue. Miss Garcia wants to make this into a campaign issue,” said Stone.

It’s an issue Bonnie Garcia began pushing during the primary.

“It’s really been more about a character assignation than really dealing with the issues, we are dealing with really challenging times here in the State of California,” said Stone.

Garcia declined an on camera interview but her campaign provided us this statement:

“Mr. Stone is tone deaf to voters and fails to grasp that they are tired of lawmakers who are also lawbreakers. With four Senators already arrested for crimes including bribery and money laundering, the last thing voters want is Mr. Stone who has a long history of breaking the law and has spent nearly $3 million on dirty campaigns in three failed runs for state office.”

Stone says he never broke the law. “Even the perpetrator of the crime said, ‘Mr. Stone never identified himself as a police officer.’ It was very clear, I wouldn’t have the endorsement of Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff, I wouldn’t have the endorsement of the 3600 Deputy Sheriffs in this county or CAL FIRE or former district attorney Grover Trask if they felt in any way I had broken the law,” said Stone.

We found out this ad didn’t come from Garcia’s campaign, it was paid for by Spirit of Democracy. It’s political action committee financed mainly by Charles Munger, Jr., a physicist who has infused millions of dollars into California political campaigns. According to the Secretary of State’s website, in less than three years he’s contributed nearly $50 million.

“Why is a San Francisco billionaire put in a million dollars into this race? What kind of promises have been made to further his billionaire’s wealth that she is going to legislate on his behalf? I don’t want to be beholden to anyone,” said Stone.

We looked at Garcia’s campaign finance records, Munger only contributed $8,200 this year directly to her campaign, but his PAC has contributed thousands.

This year stone has received contributions from corporations and LLCs but we did not find any donations from a political action committee.

This is not the only race that is negative and where third party ads are involved. Monday we will take a look at the 36th Congressional Race between Congressman Raul Ruiz and his Republican challenger Assemblyman Brian Nestande.