Meowzers! SLO County’s assemblyman attacks opponent for ‘pretending to be a cat’

Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham’s reelection campaign has gone catty.

It’s ridiculing opponent Dawn Addis, a politically progressive city councilwoman from Morro Bay, for trying to raise funds by “pretending to be a cat.”

Sounds weird, right?

Is Addis running around in a cat costume?

Meowing? Licking her paws?

Nope, nothing of the sort. She sent out a few whimsical campaign fundraising emails “signed” by Oppenheimer, her orange tabby. The messages were intended for family, friends and supporters.

Here’s a sample of the content: “... as Deputy Pawlitical Director for the campaign, I regret to let you know everything has been put on pawse. Instead of campaigning, Dawn has been busy updating local residents about the resources available for unemployment assistance, promoting safe health practices and making calls to check in on everyone’s well-being.”

Sure, the emails lack gravitas, but there are plenty of other venues for more formal messaging.

And it’s not the first time a candidate has used a cute animal as an attention grabber — we’re looking at you, Supervisors Adam Hill and Lynn Compton — and likely won’t be the last.

Yet the Cunningham camp is treating it as a shameful political sin and making Addis out to be some strange cat lady.

“The Central Coast deserves elected officials who take the current public health and economic crisis seriously, not a person who sits on the sidelines asking for money while pretending to be a cat,” it says in a statement.

If anything, this petulant attack will likely bring more attention to Addis and Oppenheimer.

More to the point, Cunningham doesn’t need to go there. The Republican assemblyman has a solid record, a reputation for bipartisanship and the power of the incumbency in his favor.

Instead of sticking to those strengths, his campaign belittles Addis — ostensibly to highlight the “contrast in leadership” between the two candidates.

“Jordan is laser focused on getting small businesses safely reopened, fighting against deep cuts to public education and getting critical funds to domestic violence shelters, among other things,” Cunningham consultant Matt Rexroad said via text.

“Meanwhile, his opponent, also an elected official, is busy soliciting campaign dollars. In a time of historic unemployment she is choosing to run her political campaign in the voice of a cat.”

Cunningham and his Assembly staff are indeed working hard during this challenging time. But that doesn’t mean Addis is sitting idly by, and it doesn’t give Cunningham the authority to claim the moral high ground.

Further, insinuating Addis is out of line for “soliciting campaign dollars” is absurd. That’s what politicians do in election season; the first button on Cunningham’s own website is the “donate” tab.

But here’s what’s most egregious: There have been some truly ugly attack ads in recent San Luis Obispo County political campaigns, alleging everything from sexual misconduct and “creepiness” to disloyalty to the United States.

That’s the type of campaigning that deserves to be condemned — not lighthearted emails intended for a select audience of supporters.

We hope that Cunningham just got a bit of bad advice here and this isn’t an indication of what’s ahead in the campaign.

He’s better than this and shouldn’t resort to cheap potshots.

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.