Dear Mr. Varni and members of the Oceano Advisory Council,
You have known for some time that Ms. April Dury, vice chair of your Oceano Advisory Council, serially attacks members of the public on social media. Very recently, after an OAC meeting, she made this comment about attendees on social media: ” … the whiteness of these assholes really bugged me.” Although you are not responsible for what a board member says, it was your judgment to vote her in as your vice chair. It is your judgment to think Ms. Dury is appropriate to moderate a debate for an office you are seeking, while knowing about her record of hostility.
During your last meeting, Oct. 13, I asked if you affirmed your decision to keep Ms. Dury as your vice chair. I also asked whether the Oceano Advisory Council would speak out against council member Lucia Casalinuovo’s comments in the New Times where she suggests that Mr. Montes (a Mexican-American) has an association with “Klansmen” and “neo-Nazis” (“Oceano residents should vote Charles Varni onto the OCSD,” Oct. 13). Since Ms. Casalinuovo is both a member of the advisory council and a volunteer for your campaign for Oceano Community Services District director, it is certainly relevant to the public. Again, Ms. Dury took to social media, posting a screenshot of my question, commenting, “Oh Adam, I love a good belly laugh … .”
The time stamp indicates that Ms. Dury posted this on her social media during the public meeting! It was near the exact time she wrote to me via your Zoom chat that my question was “out of order” but that “the public is always welcome at the Oceano Advisory Council.”
Mr. Varni, you express your views on social justice frequently, but you remain silent here, not answering my questions or subsequent correspondence. I recall you once telling a person who flew a “thin blue line” flag on their private property, “I’ll take you to the mat,” expressing passionate opposition. You are not shy, except when it comes to holding your fellow council members accountable.
Is your sense of justice not offended by Ms. Casalinuovo’s comments or Ms. Dury’s serial attacks? Will you now take Ms. Casalinuovo and Ms. Dury “to the mat” or will you remain silent?
The community of Oceano deserves to know.
Adam Verdin
Oceano business owner
This article appears in Oct 20-30, 2022.
Adam….Thank you for your thoughtful words above. I SURE hope that OAC has the courtesy to respond to you.
Dan J
Wow, it seems like the level of discourse at OAC meetings gets a bit rough. If I find myself seeking a more genteel environment, perhaps I’ll go find a biker bar offering 2 for a dollar beer night, and a free meth buffet.
When did SLO become so hostile? Why is the OAC board so aggressive in their racist or race bating comments? I would expect members of the various SLO county boards and councils to be more open to input and not respond with hate and anger just because someone does not agree with them. If the OAC is incapable of listening openly… maybe they should move somewhere that has everyone thinking just like them.
In the mean time, maybe someone in charge of the board can get rid of or alter the bad behavior of board members that are obviously not listening to the public they are charged with serving and cooperating.
Thank you Adam Verdin for writing and speaking in a respectful and professional tone and manner. Maybe the board could learn from you.
Lloyd Massey
Nipomo
I keep seeing all this talk about Oceano and Oceano Advisory Council in the New Times. It fascinates me because, in theory, people living in small communities can relate to small town drama. But Oceano is different in that the dysfunction is really limited to one organization: a political action committee pretending to be an advisory council. The OAC has become a viral sensation countywide for all the wrong reasons.
Having served on an advisory body, I find it unfathomable for an advisory council to be so overtly political that they would host a candidates forum that solely benefits the board chair, who is running for a seat on the community services district; appoints a so-called “unbiased” moderator with a biblical amount of political, personal and legal baggage; has a member of the same advisory council comparing the board chair’s opponent and his supporters to extremist groups; and they expect the community to take them seriously as some politically neutral body. That’s next level denialism on the part of Charles Varni.
Last week, I wrote about April Dury underneath the Shredder’s column, and it appears my concerns about her are validated here. After reading about her cantankerous social media posts in the Shredder, I noticed she posted on her Facebook and Instagram accounts, attacking the author of this letter and insinuating he has mental health challenges. Despite growing criticism of her misconduct and social media posts in the press, Ms. Dury continues to show the public why she is categorically unsuited to host or moderate any sort of candidates forum. And I would like to remind Ms. Dury of a little thing called projection.
But what’s especially concerning are the people who ferociously defend her, knowing full well of her misconduct and egregious disrespect of people in her community. Given his evidently proud and close association with controversial members of the OAC, I have to look at Varni, not as a candidate — since I don’t live in Oceano and don’t have a stake in any positions he holds — but who he is as a person. If he served on an advisory body I was on, I’d call for his resignation. This is embarrassing, and I’d argue this is especially embarrassing for District 4 Supervisor-elect Jimmy Paulding, who actually endorsed him. This should be a “come to Jesus” moment for the South County Democratic Club, and Paulding should withdraw his endorsement.