SLO County supervisor adds 2 people to staff: his wife and his hopeful successor
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Supervisor Bruce Gibson hired his wife and previously-endorsed candidate Jim Dantona.
- Rival Michael Erin Woody called for resignation, firing staff and public probing.
- Dantona will split part-time county duties and campaign work.
A San Luis Obispo County supervisor made two new high-level staffing changes that have been questioned by a candidate for his seat.
District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson hired his wife, Cherie Gibson, who exited retirement to fill the role of his legislative assistant, Gibson announced in a news release on Dec. 2. She previously held the position for three years from 2016 to 2019 while the couple was married and worked for the county for a total of 28 years.
Blake Fixler took over the position when Cherie Gibson retired in 2019 and was retitled to chief of staff in 2025, the release said. Fixler left Gibson’s office on Dec. 1 for a management position in the county’s Human Resources Department.
Cherie Gibson will be joined on her husband’s staff in January by Jim Dantona, CEO of the SLO Chamber of Commerce and a candidate for Bruce Gibson’s seat in the 2026 election. Gibson announced in May that he will not run for reelection and endorsed Dantona for District 2 in August.
Dantona and Cherie Gibson will share staffing responsibilities once Dantona retires from the Chamber of Commerce at the end of the year, the release said.
“I feel like I have the two best people that I can think of to help me represent District 2,” Gibson told The Tribune.
But not everyone feels that way.
Michael Erin Woody, who is running against Dantona for Gibson’s seat in 2026, called for Gibson’s resignation over his employment of his wife, which he called “nepotistic” and “an egregious conflict of interest and a shameless abuse of public trust,” in a news release on Sunday.
“Gibson is morally corrupt and lacks the ethics to hold office,” Woody said in the release. “Rather than face consequences for this ethical breach, Gibson and the county government establishment orchestrated what can only be described as a taxpayer funded reward scheme that shows a complete lack of respect for the people of SLO County.”
When asked by The Tribune for a comment in response to the statement, Gibson laughed.
“I don’t have time to resign this week,” he said. “I’m not gonna debate somebody who goes there. So I’m not gonna respond to that.”
District 2 candidate calls for Gibson’s resignation over hiring wife
In addition to Gibson’s resignation, Woody also called for the termination of Cherie Gibson’s employment in his office, a public apology from Gibson to the taxpayers of SLO County and a “very public” investigation of Gibson’s office.
He referred to Gibson’s employment of his wife as “nepotistic” and “disgraceful.”
“Now every time Bruce Gibson and his wife/assistant go to Sacramento on their private plane, Washington, D.C., or to any conference in the United States, SLO County taxpayers will be paying for their vacation and all expenses,” Woody claimed. “This is disgraceful.”
“That’s nonsense,” Gibson said. “If Cherie travels, if either of us travel for business, it’s for business. He clearly doesn’t understand what taxpayers pay for. If he believes that, he clearly doesn’t understand county business.”
Gibson added that he’s never traveled on a private jet to Washington, D.C. He does have his pilot’s license and does fly his airplane to Sacramento for work, but he said the expenses to travel by air are “no more than what it would take to drive.”
Woody’s accusations show that he “is not a serious person, and he is not a person fit for the office he is seeking,” Gibson said. “All his bluster is very shallow.”
Dantona called Woody’s accusations “an insult to the voters” of District 2.
“They voted (for) him three times with Cherie serving,” Dantona told The Tribune of his opponent. “His misunderstanding of how government works ... makes him almost unsuitable for a candidate.”
Gibson said he has no intention to resign or fire Cherie.
“I have been incredibly fortunate to have outstanding folks staff the district in office over my entire 19 years in office,” he said. “I can’t think of two other people more capable than Cherie and Jim.”
District 2 candidate Jim Dantona named chief of staff to office he is running for
Gibson said Dantona’s employment also does not pose a conflict of interest with the candidate’s campaign for the District 2 board seat.
“It’s obvious that he has a job to do and a campaign to run, and those two things are completely separate,” Gibson said. “He cannot campaign on county time.”
Gibson likened the situation to times he’s run for reelection while holding his seat as supervisor.
“He’s not campaigning on county time, he’s doing his county job, same exact thing that I faced in reelection campaigns,” Gibson said. “That’s not a problem.”
He added that in larger counties like Los Angeles, it is “not unheard of” for chiefs of staff run to replace their bosses.
With a history in local government and public service, Dantona said the opportunity to serve now was a “natural fit” as he runs for the role of supervisor.
“Half my career was in local government, working with constituents and understanding how to get through government,” he said.
Dantona spent a decade serving as chief of staff for four Los Angeles city council members and a campaign manager for a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, and nearly a decade as a planning commissioner for the city of Simi Valley, Gibson’s news release said.
Dantona will work part-time for Gibson, probably no more than 20 hours a week, he said.
“We’re just going to draw a clear line between work on behalf of constituents and a campaign,” he said. “I will have time where I’m not necessarily having to campaign that I can put in to help the Second District, and then draw clear lines that other times I will just be out doing my campaign work to then try to become the next supervisor.”
