Dennis Donohue’s bid for a county supervisor’s seat gets uglier at every turn.

To call the recent behavior of former Salinas Mayor and radicchio salesman Dennis Donohue “disappointing” would be a vastly insipid understatement, like calling the Kardashians self-obsessed. Donohue, in a bid to unseat incumbent Monterey County Supervisor Jane Parker from the District 4 seat, has sunk to campaign lows that have him not merely distorting the truth, but re-writing history. He’s lying about Parker’s record, and he tried to co-opt the Weekly’s reporting to do it.

I told him it was unacceptable. I told his campaign manager it was unacceptable. And I am telling you, gentle reader, that it’s unacceptable. While we endorsed Parker in this race, I have long thought well of Donohue because I’ve long believed his heart is in the right place on matters of social justice. As the former mayor of a charter city, it’s not like he had a lot of power; the collective council did a number of dumb things during Donohue’s tenure (courting every huckster developer that came to town, spending vast sums on wooing companies that didn’t pass the sniff test), but again, they did it together.

In the here and now, rather than admitting that as the candidate he is responsible for the campaign literature sent out in his name, this is what’s happened: Several insiders told me he blamed his team for the messaging. I emailed and asked him and his campaign manager for an explanation, then Donohue apologized for any “confusion” created by his messaging. And then, late Tuesday afternoon, he issued a defiant press release stating he stood by his statements.

It started last week, when Team Donohue, lead by public relations guy Steve Thomas, sent out a flier that depicted Parker as an obstructionist who had actively blocked approval and financing of the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery project. The cemetery is meant to provide about 11,500 gravesites to veterans and their loved ones in its 20-year buildout, but it’s taken 20 years to get the funding in place.

Donohue’s campaign mailer had the headline, “Jane Parker says ‘no’ to veterans and Monterey County” and claimed she voted against the veterans’ cemetery “in line with her special interest campaign contributors.” The piece cited a Weekly story in the issue of July 11, 2011.

The day after the mailer dropped May 7, state Sen. Bill Monning, who helped lead the charge on the cemetery funding, along with a host of other local electeds and interested parties (too many to list here), sent out an unprecedented press release decrying what he called Donohue’s “hit piece.”

Parker, Monning wrote, supported the cemetery at every point. Donohue’s literature said only one vote stood between the veterans and their cemetery – his vote – and he would provide the necessary support to get it done.

Reality check: The first phase of the cemetery is already underway and should be finished by the end of the year.

Assistant Editor Sara Rubin and I spent more time than we had on Monday combing through summer 2011 issues to find out what Donohue was talking about when he cited aWeekly story. There was nothing.

We called Thomas on it. He hadn’t seen Monning’s release, so we sent it to him. He then said they were having “legal” check on Monning’s statement and they would get back to us. Donohue emailed me this a few hours later: “I certainly acknowledge Senator’s [sic] Monning leadership with respect to the Veteran’s Cemetary [sic]. I regret the confusion from the mailer.”

Confusion isn’t what he should be regretting. What he should be regretting is the press release that went out Tuesday, in which he and Thomas again called Parker obstructionist, said veterans were rallying against her – they were just helping out – and that if Monning wanted to comment on a ‘campaign of lies and deception’ he should comment on Parker.

Thomas admitted they erroneously cited a Weekly article. They meant to cite the Herald.

“We don’t have the capability to print a correction like you do,” he writes, “so please understand it was an error in proofing.”

We understand, Steve. More than you think. If we make a mistake, we own up to it. When politicians lie, they continue lying.

MARY DUAN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com or follow her at twitter.com/maryrduan