Irving's former mayor admitted in an interview this week that he is the creator of what The Watchdog believes to be one of the most dishonest political hit pieces ever circulated.

"Yes, I'm fully responsible for it," Herbert Gears says about his dirty trick. Gears served as Irving's mayor from 2005 to 2011. Before that, he was a councilman for six years.

The mailing gives the distinct impression that former mayoral candidate Kristi Pena is a drug addict, a thief who was arrested, someone who had been evicted and foreclosed upon.

None of that is true.

State election law requires political fliers to include who paid for the advertisement.

Gears' piece doesn't do that.

Gears tells The Watchdog: "I'm not ashamed one bit of that political mailing. I have been on the receiving end of worse for years from Kristi Pena supporters. And I'm not ashamed of it because it's all public records."

Yes, it's all public records, just not Pena's public records.

Pena came in second in a four-person race in the May election. It was her first try for public office.

Pena told me her reaction when she first saw Gears' mailer: "What the heck? Who would do something like this? This is horrible."

Kristi Pena came in second in a four-person race for Irving mayor. (Tailyr Irvine / Staff Photographer)

Pena was a supporter of former Mayor Beth Van Duyne, who now works in the Trump administration. Gears lost his mayoral job to Van Duyne in 2011. He still rages.

A month before this year's election, Gears posted on Facebook: "They have called me every name in the book and even brought my wife and child into it."

This was his revenge.

Former Irving Mayor Herbert Gears says he was behind the mailer that attacked Pena. (2014 File Photo / Brandon Wade)

Dirty political mailers are a thing

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, just one of the more obvious. This happens in a lot of elections.

In Farmers Branch this year, a flier accused a mayoral candidate and council candidate of accepting bribes from a developer. A lawyer seeking more information about the flier wrote in a court petition that anonymous postcards smeared city leaders in 2013, 2014 and 2015 elections.

Chris Allen runs the Focus Irving PAC that opposed Pena. He told me, "It appears to be the political era we live in these days, and unfortunately it runs from the very top office of the United States all the way down to municipal politics."

Line-by-line falsehoods

How is Gears' mailer wrong? As poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, "Let me count the ways."

The postcard claims to come from the Irving Opportunity Counsel, but no such group is registered. There is an Irving Opportunity Council PAC in town, but Gears told me the name he used is "based on an old nickname of mine."

Gears' true post office box in Las Colinas is on the flier, but he is not identified as the box owner.

On the front, Pena's photo caption describes her as a "quack, sham, fraud, fake, imposter, hoaxer, cheat, deceiver, double-dealer, swindler, fraudster" and more.

The front also accuses Pena of "Multiple Arrests for Drugs and Theft" (false), "Evictions and Foreclosure" (never happened), "Lawsuits and City Fines" (I could find no record of them), "Failed Businesses" (her family owned, then sold a dress shop) and "Multiple Federal Income Tax Liens (true, Pena and her husband had fallen behind in taxes).

The backside shows parts of six public records. One highlighted document shows an arrest for marijuana possession. Only the record isn't Pena's. Gears highlights the "arrest" in yellow.

Another serious-looking document is from the Texas Court of Appeals, making it appear that Pena had legal problems before that high court. In truth, she sued in appeals court to gain her place on the election ballot. She won. But that's not shown.

The backside also takes a Dallas Morning News quotation out of context. An opponent accused Pena of violating Texas law by living in a city-owned house and paying low rent. The quote, using the newspaper's name, leaves out that this is an opponent's accusation, not fact.

Pena's family lives in a city-owned house under an agreement with the city. At one point, she fell behind in the monthly rental payment and was in danger of an eviction. But it never happened.

Case now in court

The Gears mailer came to The Watchdog's attention because Dallas lawyer Dan Morenoff filed court papers to depose some of Irving's political players and others. The lawyer wants to learn who is behind the mailer, so he can sue for libel and defamation, he told me.

Now he knows.

Lawyer Dan Morenoff of Dallas represents Kristi Pena.

I also talked to the mailer's printer, JPT Graphics. Owner Shirley Lewenstein says she is changing procedures because of this.

"Now there is a definite rule," she said. "We don't print anything negative."

Bravo.

Stephanie A. Martin, an assistant professor at SMU Meadows School of the Arts who studies political campaigns, tells The Watchdog, "It makes you not want to be a candidate."

She adds, "Democracy cannot tolerate this and still call itself a democracy."

Pena says she is not letting this drop.

"Ordinary citizens like myself need to know it's OK to run for office and not be bullied. On this one, they totally crossed the line."

Agreed.

After all his years of experience, Gears should have known better. Now he faces a potential legal fight and damage to his own reputation.

NOTE: You're invited to a free and fun Watchdog Nation training session led by my colleague Marina Trahan Martinez and me at The Wild Detectives bookstore at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 24, 314 W. Eighth St. Dallas, 75208.

We'll show you the latest tips and strategies to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.

Everyone attending gets a Watchdog Nation ID card! After that, no one will mess with you.

Coming Sunday: Your field reports to The Watchdog on property tax protest hearings

Staff writer Marina Trahan Martinez contributed to this report.

Check out The Watchdog Mondays on NBC5 at 11:20 a.m. talking about matters important to you.

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Watchdog Dave Lieber of The Dallas Morning News is the leader of Watchdog Nation, which shows Americans how to stand up for themselves and become super consumers.