Fake KKK robocalls sent to SLO County residents, claiming to endorse local candidate
Update: Who made homophobic robocalls to SLO County voters? DA seeks help in finding source
An antisemetic and homophobic robocall claiming to be with a group associated with the Ku Klux Klan told San Luis Obispo County residents to vote for a local candidate Tuesday afternoon.
The message tells people to check the box for District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill, who is Jewish, while making derogatory statements about the sexuality of his opponent, Stacy Korsgaden, who is lesbian. Both candidates condemned the robocall.
The call begins with a woman saying, “Back in the day, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan awarded my granddaddy the Hero’s Cross.” The recording claims to be paid for by “the Daughters of the Hero’s Cross KKK,” which does not appear to be a legitimate organization.
Several people told The Tribune they received the recorded message, just one week before California’s primary election when three seats on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will be decided.
The Tribune has not determined who is behind the calls. They came from phone number 805-242-3591.
“This robocall, like the sleazy mailers sent by my opponent, show how low some people are willing to go in order to win an election and smear someone they don’t like,” Hill said. “This is the natural result of more than nine years of vicious personal attacks on me and people close to me.”
“It was pathetic,” Korsgaden said of the call, adding she can’t imagine one of her elderly clients hearing some of the language used in the message. “Someone is doing a disservice to the community.”
On Wednesday, the District Attorney’s Office published a message on social media asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the source of the calls after it opened a formal investigation.
District Attorney’s Office chief investigator Terry O’Farrell said that Korsgaden personally made a formal request Wednesday that the agency investigate the incident. He added that his office also reached out to Hill, whose assistant said he welcomed the investigation.
History of robocalls in District 3
This is not the first time robocalls have targeted Hill with an election just around the corner.
In 2016, two robocalls paid for by the former political action committee of San Luis Obispo resident and frequent Hill critic Kevin P. Rice featured a recording of a Grover Beach businesswoman who had volunteered with the county Food Bank.
In the robocall paid for by Rice’s Integrity San Luis Obispo PAC, Julie Tizzano of SLOCO Data & Printing in Grover Beach said Hill “threatened to stop county funding (of the Food Bank) if the Food Bank continued to do business with me,” after he learned Tizzano was supporting his opponent in his 2016 race, Dan Carpenter.
Hill, who served on the board of the Food Bank prior to being elected to the county Board of Supervisors, denied Tizzano’s allegations and said he hadn’t spoken with her since they were both on the Food Bank board.
Integrity San Luis Obispo was terminated as a political action committee shortly after Hill won a third term, according to state records.
Korsgaden said she intends to find out who is behind the call.
“I’m going to file a formal complaint (with the Federal Communications Commission) and when I find out what I find out, I will personally let you know,” Korsgaden told The Tribune.
Any official investigation into the robocall would likely take months.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
