DA Dan Dow can’t serve justice while spreading anti-Muslim hate | Opinion

Never one to keep his political opinions to himself, District Attorney Dan Dow recently reposted an incendiary message on X from an alleged anti-Islamic hate group — his first mistake.

Then he tried to dodge responsibility for the repost — one of two he shared that linked New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the 9/11 terror attacks — by smugly pointing to a disclaimer at the top of his page: “Retweets are not endorsements.”

When Tribune reporter Chloe Jones continued to press him on why he was connecting Mamdani to the worst terror attack on American soil in history, he offered this sanctimonious but flimsy excuse: “I am a United States Army veteran who has served over 32 years and have had 4 tours overseas. I remember like it was yesterday our nation being attacked by Islamic extremists on 9/11/2001. I love this country and I do not in any way share the same views as the 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mandami (sic).”

We don’t buy it.

Posting a get-out-of-jail-free disclaimer at the top of your own social media page does not absolve you of responsibility for spreading blatantly racist messaging there. Nor does hiding behind your military career.

We should not have to say this, but there is no way Mamdani had anything to do with 9/11.

He was not quite 10 years old when this act of terrorism occurred. He was a child who had recently moved to New York City from Kampala, Uganda, where he was born. The terrorists were from the Middle East.

We also should not have to say this: Plastering images of 9/11 over the election victory of an upstanding immigrant citizen, who by all intents and purposes is trying to live the American dream, is clearly bigotry based on his Muslim religion, not his progressive politics or his self-identification as a democratic socialist.

Would a candidate who shared Bernie Sanders’ beliefs — and also his skin color — get the same 9/11 treatment?

In addition, the post shared by Dow implies that the problem isn’t only Mamdani; it also accuses his supporters of participating in a heinous plot to destroy New York City, as this particular detail shows:

“... To see New York — my city — stand in this moment, where someone like Zohran Mamdani could even be elected … My God, New York, what have you done?”

Dow reposted a message from the RAIR Foundation. What is that?

The post was written by Amy Mekelburg, founder of the RAIR (Rise Align Ignite Reclaim) Foundation, which has been identified as an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Its website is filled with ominous warnings about a Muslim takeover of the United States.

“Let’s be very clear: Islam has no place in a free America,” Mekelburg wrote in an essay. “No ideology that seeks our destruction deserves dignity — and no one who clings to it should expect America to bend.”

Its denouncements of Mamdani are especially virulent:

“The mask comes off .... Mamdani elected NYC mayor, quotes Socialists while Jihadis gloat,” is one headline., and in at least one opinion piece, the writer referred to Muslims as “infidels.”

Bigotry is to be expected from extremists like Mekelburg.

But we would not expect her voice to be amplified by an elected district attorney who has a duty to treat every one of his SLO County constituents fairly, regardless of religion.

When he debases himself by carrying water for an ugly, anti-Islamic organization, Dow erodes confidence in his objectivity and the basic trust we have in him to do his job.

And it’s not just hate from the RAIR Foundation that Dow reposted.

He shared this from Elon Musk: “Remember to vote tomorrow in New York! Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis (the Republican candidate) is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is.”

And this from poster Eric Metaxas: “It’s hard to believe that 24 years after 9/11, New York City is on the brink of voting in a Uganda-born Islamist mayor who campaigned last week with an unindicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center terrorist attack that killed six New Yorkers.” (Imam Siraj Wahhaj appeared on a list of possible co-conspirators in the 1993 attack, but was never charged.)

Dow gave that particular post a “100%” emoji.

Allegations of ‘rigging’ the Prop. 50 election

For Dow, this is nothing new.

He often shares his political and religious views on social media, on radio shows and in speeches, whether it’s to quote a passage of scripture, to lobby for the defeat of the Proposition 50 redistricting measure or to urge voters to support gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco, the far-right sheriff of Riverside County.

In the run-up to the Prop. 50 election, Dow shared a post on X that accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of “rigging” the election by manipulating ballot envelopes to allow “no” votes to be viewed through a hole, “so Democrats can identify them and throw them away.”

Way to instill faith in the voting system, Dan — the same system that declared you the victor in two separate elections.

Of course, Dow is not alone among district attorneys who take political positions. For instance, he was one of 30 California DAs who opposed Prop. 50.

But does he really have to drift so far out of his lane as to weigh in on a mayor’s race on the other side of the country?

We aren’t trying to stifle his right to free speech — district attorneys do not give that up when they’re elected — but it’s not too much to expect someone elected to a nonpartisan office to exercise some judgment before hitting “repost” on social media.

If our district attorney truly wants the people of San Luis Obispo County to believe that he offers justice for all, he should focus on what he does best — prosecuting criminals and supporting victims — and leave opinionizing and proselytizing to the pundits and preachers.

Especially when that opinionizing and proselytizing transitions into racism and fearmongering.

This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM.