SLO Republican attacked his opponent before she even launched her campaign
North County supervisor candidate and incumbent John Peschong blasted his opponent in an attack ad launched on local radio stations Wednesday, before his new challenger even announced her campaign and outlined her policies.
Peschong, a professional political consultant, spent $6,500 to run 176 radio spots on talk radio and country-music stations KVEC-AM and KKJG-FM, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission show.
Drawing clear political lines between the two, the ad describes Peschong as a staunch opponent of California Gov. Gavin Newsom who is “fighting to keep taxes low.” The second part of the ad goes on the attack, describing his challenger as a “San Francisco liberal” who is “attempting a left-wing takeover” of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.
“It think it’s sad,” said challenger Stephanie Shakofsky, who filed paperwork Friday to run for the District 1 seat on the Board of Supervisors in the March 3, 2020, election.
“What can you expect from somebody who makes his living writing dirty campaign ads?” she said.
While the position is technically nonpartisan, the current county board is starkly divided along party lines. Shakofsky is critical of all five supervisors.
Shakofsky is a farmer and hydrologist who purchased Saint Marie Vineyard on the westside of Paso Robles in 2017, following her work as director of the Center for Creative Land Recycling in Oakland, which focused on the reuse of contaminated property.
She is best known in San Luis Obispo County for opposing large cannabis operations, including filing a lawsuit against the county over a now-withdrawn permit for a 22,000-square-foot indoor grow on York Mountain Road in Templeton.
The reason for the ad, Peschong told The Tribune, “is she just moved here from San Francisco, and I don’t believe that makes you prepared to be a supervisor. She’s not involved in the community. I’ve got decades of experience here, and I believe that my district will re-elect me in my role.”
Peschong, who is running for a second four-year term, has lived in the North County for about 20 years.
Fact check: Ad attacks Shakofsky on groundwater plan
One of the district’s top issues is groundwater and the state-required plan to better manage aquifers to prevent continued over-pumping.
In his ad, Peschong alleges that his new challenger “wants to defeat our local groundwater plan, leading to state control of our water supply.”
Shakofsky has not publicly outlined a position on the recently published plan to manage North County groundwater — or any political position, for that matter.
Still, Peschong defended his ad’s allegation, saying that she had three community meetings, during which she said she did not like the local water plan.
“What’s going to happen is, if the plan is not submitted by Jan. 30, the state will take over,” he said.
In reality, even if his challenger is critical of the plan, she doesn’t have any authority now to block it from being submitted to the state.
Shakofsky does mention water on her campaign website, in a general attack on the entire Board of Supervisors.
“Our supervisors have been making backroom deals on water and big cannabis — putting our neighborhoods and our local economy in peril,” the website says.
As for the ad, she added, “Obviously, he feels threatened that his days of stealth dealing and cronyism at the Board of Supervisors may be over.”
The ad is scheduled to run through Dec. 16.
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
