If the last month is any indication about how the rest of the primary election season is going to go for SLO County’s 4th District supervisor race, it’s going to be hot and juicy!
In the latest round of finger-pointing, incumbent Jimmy Paulding filed a complaint against his opponent with the Fair Political Practices Commission. He alleges that Adam Verdin violated campaign finance rules by taking double the maximum contribution from developer Covelop Inc.
Juicy!
Verdin pushed back, saying that half is for the primary campaign and half is for the general election—so it’s all legal, you non-beagle. But there’s only two people in the race, so why would it go to November?
He also took a crack at Paulding, saying that the sitting supervisor didn’t even understand the rules he helped pass on the county Board of Supervisors. I think he doesn’t understand why Verdin took $11,800 from Covelop when this race is most likely going to be decided in June.
“If no general election is required, state law provides for the return of the contribution to the donor or reallocation of the unused funds for a future campaign,” Verdin said.
Paulding responded back by referencing prior complaints about Verdin’s donations from developers: “[Verdin] is exploiting a loophole allowing him to accept double the developer money because, like Lynn Compton before him, his campaign is largely financed by big developers whose projects he has publicly supported and whose interests his campaign is designed to protect.”
Yes, obviously, developers like Verdin. And if you like development, he’s your guy. Unless you like renewable energy projects like the Caballero battery energy storage facility in Nipomo. Then, apparently, Paulding’s your guy.
And you know who’s firmly on Verdin’s side? Other than Dana Reserve developer NKT Commercial, of course. Generation Build. I might start referring to the group—now a political action committee—as Verdin’s attack dog. Ruff!
The pro-housing group’s founder sent out a letter defending Verdin and pummeling Paulding.
“By publicly insinuating wrongdoing where none exists, Supervisor Paulding appears to be sending a message to local businesses and community members: support his opponent at your own risk,” Michael Massey wrote in the letter.
Umm, maybe Verdin managed to squeeze the Covelop donations between the legal lines. But I wouldn’t say that Paulding is threatening those who don’t support him.
It seems like Paulding knows this race ain’t gonna be no easy win. But that’s just my hot Shredder take. It’s going to be a hard-fought, dirty race. And if this is how the official campaigns are already talking, I can’t wait for all those nasty little PAC-inspired flyers to start hitting local mailboxes. I’m sure the Generation Build PAC, which filed its paperwork with the county last November, will be sending out campaign material in support of its chosen candidate: Verdin.
The money from that particular PAC should be easy to track.
But I could be wrong. It’s unlikely, but it could happen.
Just like the dog park proposed for Emerson Park in San Luis Obispo could still happen—even though the SLO Parks and Rec Commission pushed it out to the side of the big park renovation project. Enough voices sang loudly enough about how terrible a half-acre dog park would be in the Old Town neighborhood adjacent to downtown that the city heard the chorus.
No dog park!
There is one hiccup, though. The State Parks grant SLO received to update the park could hinge on the dog park! Tricky, tricky. So, the commission hedged its bets, kicking the park plans out to the side of the project as something that could happen in the future, but won’t happen now. Wow! That’s kind of like taking a donation for an election that might not happen.
And residents are not happy. Benjamin Walker described the commission’s decision as “dizzying.”
“There is no reason to believe that removing the dog park from the plan compromises the grant or that it’s contingent on its inclusion,” Winter said. “That felt like a scare tactic. We hope to keep staff accountable to transparent correspondence with the state and that the dog park will be permanently removed from the plan.”
Grants are tightly controlled, and any deviation can put those dollars in jeopardy. That’s the truth, not a scare tactic. He should be happy that the city is listening to residents and doing what it can to acquiesce to their demands.
The city might be trying to do the same when it comes to the Libertine’s concerts. The venue’s music nights might be numbered, thanks to some complaints from a residential neighbor—who’s living close to where all the noisy nightlife happens in this city: downtown!
“We’ve attempted to talk with not only our neighbor, but we’ve attempted to talk with the city multiple times,” Event and Marketing Manager John Pranjic said. “The city was nice enough to sit down and have a conversation with us, but even in that conversation, they weren’t very forthcoming about … the complaint.”
Police showed up on Feb. 12, responding to another non-neighborly noise complaint. But the concert that night ended at 10 p.m.—even though the permit allows the Libertine to play music until 1 a.m. Cops showed up at 10:20 p.m. No one got in trouble.
Strange, indeed. ∆
The Shredder is strange and juicy. Send hot takes to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Feb 19-26, 2026.