John C. Eastman, Republican candidate for California attorney general, is using this column in his new fund-raising pitch, complaining that The Bee "joined the attacks" on his candidacy.![Benjamin Franklin[3].JPG1.JPG](http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/the_swarm/Benjamin%20Franklin%5B3%5D.JPG1.JPG)
This is a minor point, but The Bee itself did not "attack" him, merely one of its humble columnists, me. This is another minor point, but since when is quoting someone accurately an "attack?"
I confess that I did pick through this web site, saw a few items that were of interest to me, and figured The Bee's readers also might find them of interest, too.
Eastman has never run for office, so he might not know that newspapers tend to write about candidates. Then again, he professes to be a scholar of the Founders, and might recall that they thought a newspaper's most fundamental job was to write about politics and politicians, not always favorably, and bring issues to the attention of the electorate.
Back to the question of fund-raising, Eastman clearly could use a little help. He had $148,272 in the bank as of the latest filing on March 17, and has reported raising $18,652 since them. That might be enough to buy a few radio ads in Bakersfield.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, another Republican candidate for attorney general, has raised more in the past three weeks, $184,000, than Eastman's total. Cooley had $338,000 in the bank back on March 17.
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