SLO County GOP is trying to walk back its statement about ‘fighting dirty.’ It’s not working
Has anyone watched the movie called “Don’t Look Up”? It’s about politicians telling lies against reason and facts, and people believing the lies even though the consequences will kill them.
I couldn’t help but think of this movie when reading a recent opinion piece by a member of the SLO County Republican Party. (“We’re not smearing supervisor candidates. We’re providing the ugly truth.”)
This member tells us the SLO Tribune purposely misunderstood him, all in a planned effort to attack the local GOP. His words on a local radio show were that the GOP had to “fight dirty” because “If you play a clean fight, you’re going to lose.” In his opinion piece, he says that when he said “dirty” he actually meant “tell the truth.” LOL. What? English is my second language but even I know that that doesn’t make sense.
Silence after a slip like that would have been better. But no. The GOP likes to double down, so they went further.
They now say the SLO Tribune is against them and that local candidates shouldn’t be asked about national politics. How dare the media ask questions they don’t want to answer? So unfair.
By the way, local and national politics are very related and should matter to local campaigns. To deny it shows a lack of understanding about how government works. SLO County has received more than $50 million from the American Rescue Plan, which passed with zero Republican votes. This money approved by Congress is being used locally for public health, business grants, housing, etc.
I know some Republican Party leaders are stuck in the 1850s but the rest of us are very connected to new technologies, like the internet, and we can see right through your strategy.
For example, we know the Paso Robles School Board ban on CRT comes from national organizations affiliated with Donald Trump and the Republican Party, whose only 2022 strategy is to stoke parental fears and drive chaos and rage at local school board meetings, putting teachers and public officials in danger.
But let’s say I’m wrong, and we should only focus on local politics and not look up. Can the local GOP candidates answer if they agree with Republican county supervisors when they raised their own contribution limit to $25,000, five times the state limit? Did they agree with the decision to get rid of early voting? Do they agree with disbanding a county agency, causing our waste management bills to go up? Are they OK with the silence of Supervisors Lynn Compton and Debbie Arnold, when former County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong was attacked with a racial slur at a county meeting? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then why do we want more of the same? What integrity are they really talking about?
Ballots are arriving in a little more than a month. Playtime is over, it’s time to get serious about elections and our local government. Can’t play clean? Stay away.
By the way, attacking the media is so 2016. The SLO Tribune has endorsed Republican candidates in the past. Are they not applying for endorsement ever again?
Rita Casaverde is chair of the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 5:30 AM.