COLUMN: Jon Ralston

     "The truth hurts, but the truth is still the truth." -- Kathy Augustine mail piece, 1994
     
     Oh, how right the good senator was.
      Yes, it took three years. Yes, it took the unyielding determination of a smeared candidate and her dedicated father. And, yes, Augustine's tainted victory cannot be annulled (although her future may be abbreviated).
      But, as a weekend settlement of ex-state Sen. Lori Lipman Brown's lawsuit illuminated, the truth is still the truth, no matter how Augustine and three of her colleagues tried to distort it. And the truth is not just that Lipman Brown restored her good name after having it sullied by Augustine's execrable campaign tactics. The truth is, even if it they didn't say so explicitly, Augustine and three other senators acknowledged a simple fact that has been self-evident since Campaign '94: They lied.
      "You have to read between the lines (to say they lied), but not very far," Lipman Brown said Monday. No, not very far at all.
      No money exchanged hands, only statements signed by the parties. But Lipman Brown and her lawyer and father, Melvin Lipman, were never after cash, only clarity. And she achieved as close as one can get in a legal settlement.
      The first statement is from Augustine, who defeated the freshman senator in 1994. She addresses the ads in which she implied that Lipman Brown did not recite the pledge, did not respect the flag and did not pray before floor sessions.
      In her missive as part of the settlement, though, Augustine verifies Lipman Brown's version of what happened: "It is my understanding that, when the prayers included you (and were non-denominational), you prayed with the other senators." And Augustine characterized her vicious pledge attack "an unfortunate choice of words developed during the heat of an election campaign." Right. Unfortunate now, but calculated then.
      And the coup de grace: "I acknowledge that you had ... never actually done anything to my knowledge which showed anything but the utmost respect for our flag and for the veterans of our nation."
      Reading between the lines, this is what Augustine meant: "I lied. But I wanted to win. You understand. It was just a campaign."
      The second settlement statement comes from Sens. Bill Raggio, who has the led a 1997 legislative effort to punish people for lying during campaigns, Ray Rawson and ex-Sen. Sue Lowden. The trio wrote at the time in an Augustine mail piece: "Each day that (Lipman Brown) waited outside the Senate chambers during the traditional prayer, we noted that she continued to remain outside during the pledge of allegiance to the flag."
      But now, in their settlement letter, they are nearly contrite: "The words `every day' and `each day' in our 1994 letter may have led some people to conclude that we were referring to the bulk of the (session)." Now why would anyone have thought that?
      Other than a fortnight during which Lipman Brown protested the Christian prayers by waiting outside, "to our knowledge Ms. Brown regularly joined with the other senators in the Pledge of Allegiance during the 1994 session," the senators wrote.
      Reading between the lines, the translation is: "We lied. But we wanted to keep the majority. You understand. It was just hardball politics."
      No, this was spitball politics at its worst. As one observer put it, "Lying is the least of their crimes. Dragging out someone's religious beliefs and impugning someone's patriotism is just repulsive. That is a moral and ethical blemish that these senators can never erase."
      This truth may not hurt as much as it should -- by all rights, Augustine should have lost the election based on the offense. But, after three years, for Lipman Brown to have the truth etched in these signed confessions is sweeter than any pot of cash or ephemeral political title.
     
     Jon Ralston publishes The Ralston Report, a political newsletter. His column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.