There was a lot of dirty politics and dark money being spent before the June 28 primary election in Tulsa and throughout Oklahoma.

Unscrupulous political consultants disguised their origins and sent out lies that in some cases were simply libelous. And when confronted, the actual candidate they supported said he or she had no knowledge of their attacks and did not fund them.

Right.

It’s easy to attack a candidate by shading the truth or outright lies in a 30-second TV spot. It’s impossible to explain how that is a lie in a response ad.

And it is very hard for a public figure or candidate to win a libel case because the law encourages a robust debate of public issues.

But the negative attacks are particularly troubling when they originate from someone in your same party. Ronald Reagan said his “11th commandment” was “don’t attack someone in your own party.”

The problem is that attack ads work. They would have to be blatantly dishonest for TV stations to turn down this revenue.

Some lawmakers plan to address this problem in the next session of the Oklahoma Legislature.

Airing critical ads that are truthful is not the problem. Politics is a “blood sport” and you shouldn’t run for office if you “carry your heart on your sleeve.”

But if a candidate lies about his opponent during the race, it’s a sure bet that he will lie and lie once he gets in office.

And that is dirty pool. And it gets the wrong people elected.