When I heard a radio ad claiming that Premier Mike Baird wants to sell the state's electricity network to "his mates" in the corporate sector I knew the integrity battle was being lost by Labor and its union backers.

The ad smeared the Premier on the basis of zero evidence. It added to a carefully crafted set of distortions that Labor has been selling in this campaign.

Frankly, I expected more from Luke Foley, the new opposition leader. He's clearly smart, he represents a fresh start for Labor, he has supported a range of good causes outside politics. And he's a Sydney Roosters fan, an encouraging sign.

It is not a good idea for the opposition campaign to be spruiking about "mates" in the corporate sector when the previous Labor government became enmeshed in dirty deals and crony capitalism and sold off the state's lottery monopoly for 40 years in a poor deal for taxpayers.  

The smear on Baird is not remotely supported by the facts. As Treasurer, he rolled out four privatisations without a hint of scandal, raised $10 billion, and quickly restored the state's budget to health in the government's first term.

Foley, a former union official, is a graduate of NSW Labor's Sussex Street factory that for decades has produced gargoyles for the cathedral of democracy. He spent seven years inside that factory.  He was then parachuted into the upper house in 2010 to replace Ian Macdonald, a Labor minister who became ensnared in the sprawling scandals involving Eddie Obeid, another former Labor Minister. Now he is to be parachuted into a second seat, the lower house seat of Auburn.  

He has been handed a huge advantage in this election via the public's mistrust and fatigue of selling public assets, seeing Telstra, banks, airports, roads and lotteries, sold to private investors with a different set of priorities.

But Foley chose to take a road of wilful distortion when he launched Labor's election campaign on March 1, saying the Baird government "would rely on a risky scheme to sell the electricity network that delivers $1.7 billion in revenue every year."

It's a good sound bite for TV but not close to accurate. According to figures supplied by the government, the NSW Treasury's forward estimates of revenue from electricity transmission for the next four years are: $1.2 billion (2014-15), $736 million (2015-16), $642 million (2016-17), and $407 million (2017-18), a projected total of $2.985 billion.

Foley is thus massively overstating projected revenue. By his claim, $6.8 billion would be coming in over the next four years, which is almost $4 billion more than Treasury's projections, which were available when he launched Labor's campaign.

The distortions are being repeated ad infinitum in Labor's TV advertisements: "The NSW electricity network currently makes $1.7 billion in profit that helps to pay for schools and hospitals, but Mike Baird wants to sell it off to the highest bidder. The billionaire that bought South Australia's electricity network makes $420 profit out of every household every year, giving them the highest power bills in Australia. If Mike Baird wins our power network will be gone for good."

Six falsehoods are crammed into this 65-word message.

The network is not making $1.7 billion a year. It is making much less. South Australia's network charges have fallen 17 per cent since they were privatised while they have skyrocketed 122 per cent in NSW under public ownership during the same period. "A billionaire" is not making $420 from every household in South Australia.

The network will not be gone for good. Transgrid, Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy will be leased for 99 years. The government will retain 49.6 per cent ownership of Ausgrid and Endeavour. It is retaining 100 per cent ownership of a fourth transmission company, Essential Energy.

The government will not be cutting funding for schools and hospitals, as implied. The ad suggests privatisation will allow private-sector owners to gouge consumers. But the terms of sale empower a new regulator, the Electricity Price Commissioner (the veteran regulator Allan Fels) to ensure that network prices are lower in 2019 than they were in 2014.

The numerous deceptions of Labor's campaign have been called out by none other than Martin Ferguson, a former president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and later federal Minister for Resources and Energy, who told Fairfax Media last week: "It's just deliberately misleading the public, creating unnecessary fear and trying to scare people into voting for Labor, not on merit but on misinformation. In many ways I am ashamed of the party."

Former Labor Premier Bob Carr never backed away from his belief that these assets should have been privatised years ago, when they were worth a lot more. Former Labor NSW Treasurer Michael Costa goes even further, saying that NSW taxpayers have been burdened by the "gold-plating of the distribution and transmission network under union pressure". Another former Labor minister, David Borger, minister for western Sydney, supports the government's proposal.

The irony is that no matter what happens, the bloated workforce and payrolls at the transmission companies, Ausgrid in particular,  will have to be trimmed because the industry regulator demands it. The Australian Energy Regulator, which controls prices, has said the NSW energy transmission industry is featherbedded and must cut costs in the interests of consumers.

Yet Foley and Labor have chosen the rhetoric of class war. You don't see Baird running ads about Foley working "on behalf of his paymasters in the unions" because he chose not to take the low road.