Politician shuns Gibson after anti-Jewish rant

California’s Republican candidate for lieutenant governor said he would no longer use a fund-raising letter sent on his behalf by Mel Gibson, following the actor’s anti-Semitic rant during a drink-driving arrest.

The three-page letter written by Braveheart star Gibson and sent to potential donors by Tom McClintock’s campaign says the conservative state senator from Thousand Oaks could use the lieutenant governor’s office as a “powerful engine for governmental reform”.

The actor-director has admitted making an anti-Semitic tirade after he was pulled over for speeding in Malibu in the early hours of July 28. He has since been charged with drunken driving and having an open container of alcohol in his car. He later apologised for his comments about Jews.

McClintock decided to pull the letter after the incident, his campaign spokesman, Stan Devereaux, said.

“Tom saw the news and the situation as it was unfolding with Mel Gibson and made a conscious decision to direct people not to use the letter any further. He was disillusioned by the situation with Mr Gibson,” Devereaux said.

He said the campaign sent Gibson’s letter to would-be donors four times, twice this year and twice last year, but had not planned to use it again, even before Gibson’s arrest and comments made headlines.

In the letter, Gibson said he was impressed by McClintock’s stances during his bid for governor in the 2003 recall election, eventually won by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

McClintock, a law-and-order fiscal conservative, faces Democratic candidate, state insurance commissioner John Garamendi, in November.