You should ignore those bogus attacks on SLO County clerk/recorder. Here’s why | Opinion
Stop the falsehoods
Great Reality Check by Chloe Shrager and Chloe Jones on July 2, “Did SLO County clerk-recorder violate the Public Records Act?”
Campaign season has begun for the County Clerk/Recorder’s Office. Karen Velie of Cal Coast News and Stew Jenkins, third-place candidate in the 2022 clerk/recorder election, with a grudge, are spreading falsehoods about the clerk/recorder again.
Stew, a Cal Coast News contributor and an election conniver, is practiced in frivolous lawsuits. I suspect that he and Velie recruited Shiloh Marx to file a frivolous lawsuit against Clerk/Recorder Elaina Cano. Being Stew’s brother, I know how they roll.
But Mr. Marx seemed to have realized his lawsuit would be thrown out after speaking with Ms. Cano and possibly evaluating the “advice” from Velie and Jenkins. But before Marx withdrew his lawsuit, Velie ran a “story” in Cal Coast News. Coincidence?
Stew and his buddies brought another frivolous lawsuit against the County Elections Office, right before the 2022 election, about “comma placement on the Election information mailer.” That may be why Stew came in third.
Elaina Cano, having decades of experience as a clerk/recorder, is the most experienced and qualified candidate for clerk/recorder in the next election.
Don’t believe anything Velie/Cal Coast News or Jenkins says. They will be spreading falsehoods until election day. Oh goody.
Scott Jenkins
San Luis Obispo
20 more years for Diablo Canyon?
I attended the July 11 Coastal Commission meeting to support the Mothers for Peace request for a hearing on relicensing the Diablo Canyon power plant.
The aging plant and its radioactive waste sit atop a thrust earthquake fault. PG&E has been granted a five-year extension but is now asking for 20 more, saying five isn’t enough time to build solar and wind replacements. (Note the current article in the Atlantic on China’s rapid surge past the US in clean, really clean, energy!)
I am dismayed at the number of speakers who cited loss of jobs and tax revenue if the plant closes. Several work there, but most disappointingly, District 4 Supervisor Jimmy Paulding added his endorsement. I was dismayed at myself for not having submitted a speaker’s slip, as I thought of parallels with Texas’s “Flash Flood Alley,” where officials ignored calls for an alarm system as too expensive and, anyway, a 100-year torrent won’t happen again.
The unimaginable happens. Can we picture the gridlock on Highways 1 and 101 if we did get timely warning from our sirens? MFP has demanded accountability since before Diablo was built, forcing PG&E to rectify some issues. Many more at least deserve a hearing.
Rosemary Wilvert
San Luis Obispo
We need Diablo
As someone who lives and works on the Central Coast, I’ve seen firsthand how important Diablo Canyon Power Plant is to our local economy and way of life. This isn’t just about energy production, it’s also about jobs, stability and the strength of our community.
At the recent Coastal Commission meeting, it was clear that others recognize this, too. Diablo Canyon is the largest private employer in San Luis Obispo County. It supports thousands of jobs, both directly and indirectly, while providing tax revenue that helps fund essential services like our schools, roads and emergency responders.
The impact goes well beyond the plant itself. Friends and neighbors of mine work there, and many more benefit through steady contracts, full tables at restaurants and consistent business for local shops. The dollars earned there circulate here, strengthening real families and small businesses throughout the region.
At a time when costs are rising and stability feels uncertain, we shouldn’t lose something that provides affordable, clean energy and meaningful economic support. Keeping Diablo Canyon open protects both our future and our local economy.
Joe Pivovaroff
San luis Obispo
We owe immigrants our thanks
Clive Pinder, congratulations for being a white green card holder. But “tiene tarjeta” don’t mean a thing next to brown skin and a Spanish accent.
A few years ago, black SUVs showed up before dawn on the canal bank behind the family ranch. ICE agents came down with an unsigned warrant, grabbed Manuel from his home in front of his wife and children and hauled him off to Texas. Rule of law and due process be damned.
Manuel was a legal resident, had a green card, had never committed a crime, and had worked many years on the farm and paid his taxes. My brother had to call a lawyer to have him brought back home, where he continues to work. (The episode was memorialized in the 2011 song, “Ice in the Night,” by Cobra Skulls.)
Our immigration policies are woefully antiquated, but Trump would not sign a bipartisan Congressional bill that would have helped improve the process.
Human history is a never-ending story of war, pestilence, famine, greed, discrimination and mass migration. Few will sit still while their family starves or is otherwise threatened by circumstances over which they have no control.
We need immigrants to do important work in agriculture, manufacturing, meat packing and more. If people are hungry and come here to work in jobs white people won’t do, we owe them thanks and immigration reform, not kidnapping by masked men.
Christine Mulholland
San Luis Obispo
‘Theater of the absurd’
This recent column made sense as it was logical and read well. It even included the comment that immigrants are legally entitled to due process to include: a hearing, a lawyer, a judge and a chance to present their case.
However, I remain dispirited; based on reports in your paper, other print matter and televised news. What seems to be really happening is people are simply being abducted, taken away and in many cases just disappearing from sight. This is the current administration’s true concept of due process. Out of sight out of mind.
Our current top executive, a convicted felon several times over, is not known to live by the law and does just what he wants. Consequently, the recent protests that occurred nationwide on “No Kings Day” are not going away and will only grow as more Americans realize the cruelty and incompetence of this administration.
Fred Raleigh
Templeton
A ‘gloating celebration’
Clive Pinder’s column, “Theater of the absurd,” is a gloating celebration of his good fortune to be a white man who qualifies for admission with quotas designed for his benefit.
Today’s crackdown on people of color affects those who have no such privilege. He does have a point in suggesting, facetiously, I suspect, that we should change the law if we do not like it.
There is a precedent. In the ‘60s, it was common to hear folks rationalizing that they personally favored Blacks having equal rights but “the law is the law.” It turned out the laws promoting segregation were bad laws and eventually went away. When you have 10 million people who have broken a law, it is a sign that it is a bad law. In practical terms, deporting millions of people and cruelly disrupting their lives makes no sense.
The case that their presence is harming the country is a weak one. There is abundant evidence to the contrary. At the end of the day, it is a lose/lose situation that does not help them or us. Amnesty and realistic laws would hurt no one and benefit everyone.
Dr. David Bernhardt
San Luis Obispo
Enforcement without context isn’t justice
Clive Pinder’s recent commentary, “Theater of the Absurd,” presents a simplistic view on immigration reform that overlooks key legal and factual realities. Pinder frames the ICE arrest as a moment of overdue legality, casting undocumented immigrants broadly as lawbreakers.
But immigration law isn’t black and white — it’s a labyrinth of shifting rules, humanitarian carveouts, and backlogged processes. For instance, asylum seekers may cross borders irregularly but are protected under federal law until their claims are heard. The piece’s theatrical tone — filled with phrases like “hashtag histrionics” and “Punch and Judy politics”— dismisses community concern as mere sentimentality.
Yet masked ICE officers in public spaces spark genuine fear due to the frequent brutality administered by the officers, including beatings and the secretive nature of detainments and arrests. Comparing these arrests to DUI checkpoints trivializes the emotional and civil rights impact.
Pinder also celebrates a 93% drop in border crossings under current deterrence policies, but omits that this includes transfers to offshore camps condemned by human rights groups. Lastly, suggesting that compassion erodes law enforcement ignores the real potential for ethical governance. Let’s aim for policy reform built on facts and empathy, not hashtags or hyperbole.
Jill Stegman
Grover Beach
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM.