What do we do with Dan Dow—the county’s elected official with the biggest mouth?
After low-key threatening to sue the county if it didn’t fund his late-to-the-game budget request for the District Attorney’s Office, he did walk it back ever so slightly. Dow and outgoing 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson sparred over the comment in May.
While Dow didn’t threaten the board in quite the same way when he begged for more funding on June 8, he once again accused it of flouting its legal obligation if the county didn’t acquiesce to his after-hours request.
“Often in budgetary discussions, I hear that there are other things that compete for your primary responsibility,” he said. “The protection of public safety is the first responsibility of local government, and local government officials have an obligation to give priority to the provision of adequate public safety services.”
So, which public safety department is giving up dollars so the DA can have two more deputy district attorneys, a paralegal, and an admin assistant? Any volunteers?
If his office doesn’t get these five positions, then it means his office can’t adequately do its job. It’s “constrained,” he said. Besides, he whined, the office has had to make cuts for the last five or six years: “We can’t sustain that.”
Welp, sorry to be the bearer of this bad news in case you missed the memo, but this whole budget thing is applicable to the entire county. All 26 departments, as everyone on the dais noted. Every one of them has had to make undesirable cuts and go without needed positions.
That’s the name of the budget game when things get tight—when revenue plateaus or decreases but costs continue to increase, the belt gets cinched tighter. Hello, aren’t you a conservative?
Dow also accused the Executive Office of working with the DA’s Office in bad faith.
The careful word choices that County Executive Officer Matt Pontes responded with were a master class in trying really hard not to sound offended and not to cause offense.
“The DA made a passionate good plea,” Pontes said, later adding that the Executive Office talked to Dow about being more strategic about his department’s needs and potentially doing a management audit similar to other departments. Incidentally, Pontes added that he wants to do the same with the Sheriff’s Office.
I don’t think Dow or Sheriff Ian Parkison are going to let that happen! Plus, 1st District Supervisor John Peschong said, don’t worry, the DA’s Office won’t get the management audit treatment. Really? Where are all the conservatives out there who were so concerned about government efficiency that they supported Trump slicing and dicing through federal agencies?
Oh wait, supporting criminal prosecution is politically expedient.
Gibson took umbrage—so much umbrage that I grabbed some popcorn.
“The DA has the discretion, in fact the responsibility, to deploy, deploy his resources to take care of the needs of the county,” Gibson said. “And I think there’s evidence that they’re not being deployed as well as they should.”
He brought up a recruiting video, which said the opposite of what Dow expressed to the board that day: “The workload for a deputy district attorney is extremely taxing,” Dow said earlier. “They need the additional support.”
Over the past three years, their case count has increased by 11 percent, Dow said, with nearly 12,000 cases referred to the office last year.
By contrast, Gibson said, the video highlighted the relative lightness of each attorney’s load. It’s so petty to bring up a recruiting video, but I’m here for it.
He didn’t stop there. Gibson accused the DA of having low conviction rates. The DA’s Office isn’t applying resources as efficiently as it can, so the board shouldn’t grant any of Dow’s requests, Gibson added.
Harumph! Harumph! Harumph!
The DA clapped back a day later with an announcement!
The office’s felony conviction rate is above 80 percent. And it’s higher than the state’s average. So there!
What’s conspicuously missing is the actual number of cases that hit the court system. So—the department had almost 12,000 cases referred to it last year. How many of those got convictions? I’ve heard rumors that the office doesn’t prosecute that many of the cases it receives.
But I can neither confirm nor deny that. Maybe we’ll get another urgent announcement? I can only hope that I’m as important as Gibson in this game of political slights. Harumph!
Speaking of politics, the primary races in SLO County are exciting! Initially, Michael Erin Woody was beating Gibson’s chosen successor, Jim Dantona. But that’s no longer the case. Dantona is now in the lead, with a little less than 1,000 votes separating the two. Jimmy Paulding is probably breathing a sign of relief because his lead over 4th District challenger Adam Verdin strengthened from about 360 votes to more than 1,200.
But there are still more than 30,000 votes to count as of June 10! Geez. Hurry up and wait.
I really don’t think that Dantona will be able to dish out the level of snark and disdain that Gibson has a penchant for. Gibson’s ability to talk down to someone from the dais is unmatched, and as an avid consumer of Board of Supervisors meetings, I’m going to miss his condescending ways. ∆
The Shredder is snarky too. Send slights to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in June 11-18, 2026.
This piece presents an interesting examination of conflict, competition, and differing perspectives. The engaging writing encourages readers to think critically about the issues being discussed. https://www.wyalusing-wes.com/
I wonder what white elephant projects the county of SLO has engaged in? I’d be willing to bet if the county prioritized public safety over bridges to nowhere, the county might actually be able to support Dan Dow’s mission. Our economy is collapsing and people are getting desperate. What will the county do when people are getting arrested for mugging, shoplifting, vagrancy, burglary, and acts of violence during armed robbery, at a scale not seen since the Great Depression? The county will be begging his office to prosecute. It’s too bad law abiding citizens will have to die in order for the county to put public safety first.
Bruce Gibson is a kook too.
DA Dan Dow still did threaten to sue the County though.
As reported in the Tribune, when Dan Dow said “But I believe it’s my duty as your district attorney and the head of the District Attorney’s Office to advocate not for me, not for Dan Dow, but”… the backstory is that Dan Dow was trying to wield his self-righteous Power over the BOS; that is what church boy Dan Dow really meant.
If he is such a great Manager of the District Attorney’s Office, why didn’t he make that request for more money in a timely manner, by the deadlines of the formal budget submittal process; as CEO Matt Pontes had said that Dow had neglected to do, that all of the other departments and agencies had done.
Dow may be the reason he has empty job positions. I had a neighbor who worked for the DA’s Office before and during 2020 during the George Floyd Protests; who left that job because Dan Dow based most of his prosecutions on his white nationalist right-wing religion.
Dow had many cases that were thrown out following that year, because of his white nationalist and prejudiced religious zealotry, as the basis of his prosecutions. I would guess that those thrown out cases cost the County into the millions of dollars.
And of course he brought out his puppy dog, aka, Elder Abuse, and threatened it with his proverbial hammer; until the BOS finally said “No.”
I sent two public comments to the BOS regarding Dow’s failed prosecutions; asking the BOS and the County CEO’s Office to do a brief audit of how much the DA’s office wasted on all of those unsuccessful prosecutions.
Dan Dow is a bad manager of the DA’s Office, and the numbers show that the Dan Dow and the DA’s Office had a very low success rate in his prosecutions. About half what ethical rule of law DA’s Offices have, in similar counties to SLO County.
With all of DA Dan Dow’s deficiencies, bad prosecutions and threatening to sue SLO County, he should be disbarred and sanctioned.
Then he could take his white nationalist bigotry and study at some white nationalist seminary in a welcoming confederate state, thereby saving us taxpayer money, and freeing us from his fanatical shenanigans.
Most people I run with understand the advantages of a government system not focused on a particular religious sigma…..so the comment a seperstion of church and state is best for a nation filled with many people of several different religious backgrounds or not. Yes good ole religious dogma …in a nation of both cat and dog lovers …….diversity or the allowing of it it best which disallows a system run on white Christian nationalism like in the state of Mississippi . Thank goodness many folks in California are open minded.
Thank you. It is good to see some truth, rather than the many warped conspiracy theories.
Sigma. Meant to type dogma…to repair error. Tu ..the author je
Scott:
If you want a bleeding heart liberal DA so bad, why don’t you just hire Chesa Boudin, Democrat and adopted son of convicted left wing terrorist Bill Ayers? I understand that worked out so well for San Francisco that he was recalled after only a couple of years on the job. Then you could have a DA that only prosecutes the people you hate, i.e. straight, white, males.
I personally think it would be pretty ballsy of Mr.Dow to sue the sh_t out of the county for the resources his department and the public desperately need.
You automatically stereotype everyone and everything that is not in your maga cult.
Sad for you… It must be bleak there, in those rabbit holes of falsehoods, funhouse mirrors, rage machines, and all your angry delusional “friends.”
Carl describes you and your cult very well:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Again Scott, feel free to make former and recalled San Francisco DA, Chesa Boudin, son of left wing terrorist and member of your generation’s sweetheart domestic terrorist group, the Weather Underground, a write-in candidate. He can then let our county go to complete hell like he did in San Francisco. You should be thanking your lucky stars we have a DA and Army Colonel, Dan Dow, at the helm rather than try and tear him and MILLIONS of other Americans because they actually have a personal relationship with their creator. Maybe you should consider finding one too…
As a matter of fact, Scott, if you think you can do a better job than our current and much appreciated DA, Dan Dow, why don’t you run to unseat him? Maybe you have years of experience being a prosecutor, hold a JD, and years of running an actual DA’s office?
As for national service, are you a veteran? Dan Dow is and so am I. You ever put this nation’s uniform on and ever swear to die for it, its Constitution, or its people? Probably not. It’s easier for you and the hordes of liberals and atheists to talk sh_t safely behind a pen in little columns like this. You’ve done nothing for your country or community.
Wow, fly keeps talking to himself. I can’t read his delusions.
Keep talking to your self with your conspiracy theories. Only your “friends” in those rabbit holes can hear you.
It is pure putin styled, brain numbing, Mind (Expletive), that putin and his puppet trump, and his followers use.
I won’t hear it or read it, to keep from poisoning my mind. Sorry fly… bye.
Lastly, Scott, go ahead and tell the family of Kristin Smart what a sorry DA our DA is. I dare you.
Just to add, I cannot get through one sentence of Clive Pinter’s Putin styled Mind [expletive] either. It’s as if you magas are all reflecting each other’s falsehoods in those funhouse mirrors in those rabbit holes. Hope the magas can snap out of it.
It is unhealthy.
And you, Scott, are a bastion of sanity? Right.
Scott:
Pretty scary peeking out of the bubble you live in, right? When you encounter a regular person like me who has a different opinion than you, my opinion is part of some sort of “conspiracy” or something. I’m probably not much different than you, I went to public school, speak English, and bleed red. The only difference is that we have a difference of opinion. The fact that you didn’t fail to mention “Putin,” tells me you consume mainstream media uncritically.
Frankly, we are lucky he hasn’t nuked us. We’ve provide the weapons, designs, training, data, radar, and satellite targeting info to the dictator Zylenski and his regime. These weapons have been fired deep into the Russian heartland. Putin has been EXTREMELY reserved. He is surrounded by Russians that would like nothing more than to nuke western europe, Ukraine, and US. His society is everything we are not. Once he is gone, you will get an extreme nationalist that may not hold back. Use your brain, Scott, or at least start reading books.
One can stand up for principles. And allow others to express their own opinions without getting ugly or vindictive. Sometimes opposing viewpoints do help us reexamine whatec8s best for people and country like a tug of war until a solution is reached that pleases the masses. We still live in a democracy where opinions and rebuttal are treasured and needed to help find solutions. Sometimes bad things must happen to preserve and return us to sanity. Although the Trump experiment is alarming on some fronts, he is important to get us to wake up and do something .
The good that is resulting from the “Trump experiment” is that finally 60+ of American voters have woken up to the fact that we have a fascist and puppet of Putin and Netanyahu in the White House with his sycophants, doing their darnedest to destroy American Democracy and the World Economy.
And I won’t mention the damage those three despots are doing to the Earth’s Environment.
Oh, and those genocides, and endless wars. With our tax dollars, and weapons.
I do agree. It “is important to get us to wake up and do something.”
Resist fascism in America every day!
Scott:
If you understood the actually definition of fascism, you would understand that it’s been around America a lot longer than the Trump administration. Many of us Republican voters voted for Trump not because we were or are enamored by him, but rather, we had no choice. What does the Democratic party offer? Flag burning commies? Nah, I’ll vote Republican.
I’m ok with mass, illegal immigration too, just come back in 30 years after we fix our economy. It’s hard enough for real Americans to find affordable housing without competing with low wage, illegal workers driving rent up by sleeping in shifts in overpriced apartments.
“…ugly and vindictive…?” Have you even heard the rhetoric coming out of the mouth of Hillary Clinton lately?
I used to be a Democrat and grew up around NYC Democrat ideologues, but I finally realized that after decades of voting Democrat, not only had my life become worse, but so had the social conditions of the US. Our decline has been bipartisan. I don’t even know what the Democratic party even stands for anymore. It didn’t help watching the very people the Democratic party drools over registering, burn the American in the street in LA about 18 months ago as they waved a particular foreign flag. That is how desperate and unprincipled the Democratic party has become. Instead of condemning those animals, union officials and liberals tried to justify it. Every single one of those flag burners were either on public assistance, had a family member on it, or has been incarcerated. I’d rather eat a steaming pile of dog excrement than ever vote for the Democratic party. Until the material conditions of my life improve and can be directly attributed to their policies, the Democratic party can rot in hell.
The two largest problems in america is. ….it’s addiction to war profiteering and the penchant for funneling more money into this military complex as funding is cut for programs that benefit people in need. Prob l em two is the depth of big business corporate donors and lobby that controls our politics. Our way in the world is unsustainable……which results in high inflation. This is both a Democrat and republican issue. America needs to reexaminevits priorities on the world stage .
The biggest change besides the things we see in this country and it’s rogue government is an erosion of norms or behaviors in many people. So many are mean spirited and angry or ugly in their behaviors towards fellow homo sapians. We ain’t any better than violent chimps. This is a time when we must come together and defend our way of life and freedoms. Case in point are some negative posts I’ve seen regarding the b52 crash at edwards air force base ….words like they deserved it etc. We need a careful rehashing of our ways as people or we are doomed and the government will control us in not such a good way. Laws that are met to protect us will be instigated as a way to diminish our movements and they will find ways to collect our money either through draconian laws or inflation or under mining our health so we become a slave to the medical corporations. In the meantime extend a kind helping hand out of love and respect. The world cries for it.
Why do politicians lie….s question.
Why do politicians lie….a question
insane, unfit, inability to serve and vulger…..