Political consultant Thomas suffers email fail

The cardinal sin of political consulting: Making the kinds of mistakes you should be telling your clients to avoid.

Among the best bits of advice a candidate or office holder can get:

— Emails are not confidential, no matter how much you might like them to be. Emails last forever. If you don't want something made public or available to a wider office, don't put it in an email.

— Never put something in an email that can be used by your opponents against you.

— Never make stuff up and put it in an email.

Do as I do, and all that.

David Thomas, known locally as the "judge maker" for his clients' high winning percentage in judicial elections, should know this. Yet last week he showed the kind of judgment that could sink a campaign, making all three mistakes with the click of a send button as part of his efforts to marginalize another controversial figure in Southern Nevada politics, Steve Sanson. And Thomas managed to drag me and the Review-Journal's editorial page into the mess in the process.

It started with my column from last week. I've written previously about Sanson and his organization, Veterans in Politics International, and the unsavory ways he uses his group's election endorsements to raise his own profile. In writing the columns, I've tried to help voters understand that a VIPI endorsement does not reflect a consensus of Nevada veterans or a commitment to specific veteran causes. And I've tried to show candidates that because of Sanson's personal conduct, nasty email blasts and acceptance of campaign contributions from candidates, a VIPI endorsement is nothing to tout.

Last week, I wrote about the emergence of Nevada Veterans in Politics, a group created to compete with Sanson's organization — and named to undermine it. Thomas was pretty excited about the column. He loathes Sanson's keen interest in judicial races. Judicial candidates for 2016 file for office next month. Thomas emailed the column to his clients last Sunday with a long memo.

How did I find out about Thomas' email? Because one of his clients leaked it to Sanson, who then posted the whole thing on the Veterans in Politics International website.

Oh snap!

"Glenn Cook will be assisting the Nevada Veterans in Politics group to get exposure and help to dissuade people from go to the (sic) Steve Sanson's Veterans in Politics group for an endorsement," Thomas wrote in the email.

Only it's not true. I wrote a column about Nevada Veterans in Politics, and nothing more. I have no relationship with the organization, and whether I write more about Sanson's group or the new group depends solely on whether I think it's newsworthy and interesting.

But wait, there's more!

"It is likely that any Review-Journal endorsement is at risk as well if a candidate participates in the Veterans in Politics endorsement process."

Also not true. Endorsements from the Review-Journal's editorial board (of which I am one of four members) are independent, separate from my columns and not conditioned on any candidate participating or not participating in any other group's endorsement process.

What was Thomas thinking? I think he's so bent on bringing down Sanson that he was determined to show his clients some "insider" information, and he got totally carried away. In the email, he disclosed to his clients (who are not listed under recipients) that police unions are considering denying their endorsements to judicial candidates who seek Sanson's support.

In doing so, Thomas allowed Sanson, a conspiracy nut, to publish proof of a conspiracy against him, part of which doesn't even exist.

I told Thomas, who I've spoken with about Sanson, to email his clients and correct the record. He replied: "I never indicate (sic) to them you would take any action. I only indicated that there was a potential of certain outcomes in a confidential email to my candidates. I apologize for any harm to the RJ or your reputation."

Saying an email is confidential doesn't make it confidential. A political consultant should know as much.

— Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is the Las Vegas Review-Journal's senior editorial writer. Follow him on Twitter: @Glenn_CookNV. Listen to him this Monday at 10:30 a.m. on "Live and Local — Now!" with Kevin Wall on KBET 790 AM.