Fact check: Jordan Cunningham says Dawn Addis is dodging debates. Is that the truth?
READ MORE
Fact checks on the Cunningham-Addis Assembly race
Tribune reporter Matt Fountain fact-checked three claims made in the race for San Luis Obispo County’s state Assembly seat.
Expand All
Incumbent Jordan Cunningham and challenger Dawn Addis have exchanged pointed attacks in their race for the Assembly, including on the basic question of whether they are willing to debate each other.
Cunningham, who is seeking a third term representing San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties in Sacramento, has claimed Addis refuses to debate him.
Addis, a Morro Bay city councilwoman, says Cunningham has also skipped debates that wouldn’t be before a necessarily friendly crowd for a conservative candidate.
The two candidates have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars inundating voters with campaign mailers, radio and social media ads, and robocalls driving home negative claims against each other. The Cunningham campaign, for example, spent more than $430,000 between July and mid-September, and Addis spent even more — almost $466,000 — in the same period.
This is the third in a three-part fact-check series examining the claims made in the 35th Assembly District race.
Debate attendance
Claim: Cunningham’s campaign says Addis has “refused to attend” debates and candidate forums, and has missed three recent debates.
Rating: Partially true
Details: Addis declined or didn’t respond to invitations to participate in three recent Zoom candidate forums, most recently last week, but the Cunningham campaign fails to mention previous events Addis agreed to that Cunningham’s campaign either declined or which were canceled through no fault of either campaign.
Addis missed a pair of Chamber of Commerce Zoom debates in San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria Sept. 28 and 29, respectively. She also didn’t attend an Oct. 8 Zoom forum held by the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau, which was attended by Democratic state Senate candidate John Laird. Cunningham participated in all three events.
Both the Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo Chambers confirmed that Addis declined their invitations, with San Luis Obispo Chamber CEO Jim Dantona elaborating that Addis’ campaign did so within seven days of the event due to scheduling issues.
Farm Bureau Executive Director Brent Burchett said his nonprofit reached out to both campaigns several weeks ago and did not receive a response from Addis’ campaign.
Addis spokesman Soneff would not directly say why the Democratic challenger missed the two chamber events, but in response to questions about the Farm Bureau forum, he noted that Cunningham has taken thousands of dollars from the California Farm Bureau’s political action committee and that the campaign is “not going to agree to an event where his donors are the moderators.”
Burchett said that the nonprofit San Luis Obispo County chapter, which held the event, cannot make political campaign contributions or endorsements.
But Addis’ campaign says that she has agreed to three candidate events by non-business-related groups that never occurred due to the Cunningham campaign.
“All of those events were canceled or never moved forward because Jordan Cunningham refused to attend,” Soneff said in a prepared statement. “It’s not a shock that the Assembly member who regularly refuses to show up to work or to vote has now refused to show up to debate, and then lied about it.”
The Tribune found that Addis agreed to a joint invitation from the League of Women Voters and the GALA Pride & Diversity Center in September.
Vallerie Steenson, secretary for the League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County, said in an email Oct. 8 that the organization was approached in August by GALA about a joint candidates forum for the 35th Assembly District race, which they agreed to moderate and host. Steenson said they were later informed the forum would not proceed because Cunningham declined.
Michelle Call, executive director for GALA, confirmed that the group invited Cunningham in early in September for any date in October. Addis’ campaign replied yes immediately, Call said, but Cunningham’s campaign eventually said he was participating in other forums and invited GALA to ask questions at those events.
The invitation remains open, Call said, but she has not heard back from Cunningham’s campaign. She provided an email thread in which a Cunningham spokesman declines, saying, “At this time we will not be able to participate in your forum.”
Addis’ campaign also says Cunningham declined to attend a Sept. 24 virtual forum hosted by the Lompoc-Vandenberg Branch of the American Association of University Women, another nonprofit.
Pamela Buchanan, of the group, said Tuesday that Addis agreed within a few days, but a third request to Cunningham’s campaign was returned with a response by Cunningham spokesman Adam Lester citing the Santa Maria/Lompoc Chamber event, which was held Sept. 29.
“The ONLY reason that the AAUW-sponsored forum was canceled for 35th District, CA, Assembly candidates was due to the fact that Mr. Cunningham declined to participate,” Buchanan wrote in an email.
A third event the Addis campaign cites was an open-ended event to be hosted by SLO U40, a nonprofit that advocates for residents under 40.
But Kelly Donohue, a U40 founding member, said in preparing for a forum tentatively planned for the fall, they received a confirmation from Addis but were not able to reach Cunningham at that time, and did not continue to reach out. Due to COVID-19 limitations, the group ultimately decided to forego a forum for the Assembly, Donohue said.
Check out our Voter Guide
Still deciding how to vote on this race? In The Tribune’s Voter Guide, we’ve compiled information about both candidates as well as their responses on a number of key issues. You can also compare candidates for your local city council, community service district or school board.
Find The Tribune Voter Guide at sanluisobispo.com/voter-guide.
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
