Anytime Oceano politics comes up, I steel my tiny Shredder teeth and roll up my sleeves. My chompers are gnashing as the race for a seat on one of the most dysfunctional governing bodies in the county—the Oceano Community Services District (OCSD)—heads into the final stretch. (Don’t worry, Cambria Community Services District, you will always be in the running!)
We’ve got Charles Varni of the Oceano Advisory Council on one side and Steve Montes, who prefers the Vitality Advisory Council of Oceano on the other. It’s like 2021’s Advisory-Council-Gate all over again. Who’s more important? Obviously, it’s me!
The folks who should be advocating for Oceano are much better at bickering among themselves than they are at leading residents. It’s no wonder that town feels forgotten by the SLO County Board of Supervisors—the political “elite” (and I use that term extremely loosely) conduct themselves like a bunch of whiny teenagers spoiling for a fight. Any issue that has consequence turns into a name-calling, finger-pointing high school drama.
The latest kerfuffle is over a community forum between the OCSD candidates. Varni is accusing Montes of being “afraid” of debate, while Montes is saying the forum, as planned, would be inherently one-sided and unfair. And I agree with Montes, 100 percent.
Why? Well, for one, the Oceano Advisory Council that Varni currently sits on is hosting it. For two, the VP of that council, April Dury, who ran against Montes to get appointed to the OCSD and lost, is the moderator of said debate. For three (yes there’s a third reason), Dury is a little unhinged shit-stirrer who wouldn’t hesitate to get her jabs in as a moderator. She wouldn’t be unbiased—like at all.
This is the same person who spoke up during a November 2021 meeting to call out her least favorite person on the Board of Supervisors, Lynn Compton: “My supervisor holds a grudge like a fat kid holds a cookie, and we’re that cookie right now.”
Very professional! That’s leadershit in action. And there’s so much more where that came from: “Smells like cocaine and divisive partnership up there,” she posted on Instagram below a picture of the county government building.
And those sentiments are totally fine—if you don’t need to actually work with the people you don’t agree with to make real changes for a community that you claim to be trying to make better. Oceano a town of only 7,600 people. Yet, the derisive division is stifling progress, drawing lines in the town, and has thrown the Oceano Advisory Council on one side and the Vitality Advisory Council of Oceano on the other.
It’s like West Side Story, only the characters are way older and not very good dancers.
So now, this OCSD race is about these two advisory councils and a debate. It’s not about public safety services, which would seem to be the town’s most pressing issue now that residents opted out of paying to be part of the Five Cities Fire Authority.
And Varni will be the lone candidate attending the Oceano Advisory Council forum. Great!
You know what else is great? Dr. Bruce Jones and his comments about “paper ballots.” The candidate running against incumbent Bruce Gibson for the 2nd District SLO County supervisor seat believes we should be filling out paper ballots in our elections … which we already do.
So, is the paper we’re currently using where all this election fraud is coming from? Or is it the pens we’re using? Because if you ask some people, felt tip pens are the absolute devil!
Oh wait! I know, it’s the paper that the vote by mail ballots come on! It’s different, right?
Wrong.
The Republican Party of San Luis Obispo is so convinced of its convictions—even after a recount proved them wrong—that the political organization’s homepage hosts some pointed directions to voters: Take that paper ballot that’s mailed to your house and exchange it with another paper ballot that’s at the precinct on election day. Even though they’re the exact same ballot, it’s the only way to ensure “that our conservative votes will be counted that night.”
“We have to bypass the fraud that comes with voting early with a mail-in ballot; chain of custody issues, signature match issues, mail-in-ballots being used to inject into the system ‘as needed,'” this “URGENT MESSAGE” from “Maria Smith 4 The Republic, Central Coast” said. “Conservatives have to show up on election day and overwhelm our precincts with our in-person vote.”
I say just surrender the mail-in ballot altogether and don’t vote at all if you’re a conservative. But that’s just me.
I’m not sure if Smith, Jones, or the local party realizes it or not, but all of the paper ballots—which is every single ballot—are counted under the same system, whether you vote in person or by mail.
Also, the vast majority of SLO County residents who voted in the primary voted by mail—conservatives, liberals, agnostics, and disgusted-with-the-system residents alike. Out of the 88,357 total ballots cast in June 2022, 85,706 were vote-by-mail. That’s 97 percent of voters.
Why? Because they obviously trust the system. And it’s easier, more convenient, than trying to make time on a busy workday to go to the precinct in your neighborhood, wait in line, and vote. Δ
The Shredder surrenders to the fact that wackos exist. Send comments to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 13-23, 2022.
Democrats spend a lot of time dismissing the concerns of republicans over the integrity of elections. Their assurances would be more convincing if they weren’t working so hard to loosen up the voting process and make it so vulnerable to fraud. For example, look at how hard they fight against voter ID, making silly claims that there must be someone, somewhere, who doesn’t have an ID. Or, fighting any restrictions of “vote harvesting”, refusing to contemplate any possibility that party operatives might end up completing ballots or might discard the ones they don’t like. They oppose any restrictions on the “chumming” of voters by offering food and drink at the polls. They support the automatic registration of voters and mail in voting, so that ballots will be spewed out liberally, to be completed by whoever gets their hands on the mail. If Democrats weren’t working so hard to facilitate fraud, we would take them more seriously.
Let me tell you a story about April Dury.
In early 2014, Dury criticized me for being critical of Cal Coast News’ reporting practices. After leaving derogatory and threatening comments on my Facebook page and repeatedly tagging my personal profile, Dury indicated she contacted law enforcement for a “welfare check.” I was contacted by a SLO County Sheriff’s Dept. who not only acknowledged a complaint was filed, but informed me they dismissed it immediately because it was baseless as it was a clear attempt at infringing on my First Amendment rights.
Dury indicated her harassment was based on the conspiracy theory that I was a “government troll” hired by the late District 3 Supervisor Adam Hill to disparage and demean his critics. Acting on that conspiracy theory, Dury stalked me at a 2016 political fundraiser for Supervisor Hill in Shell Beach, taking video and photos. After leaving the event, she immediately shared her intel about the event on Cal Coast News. This year, former Grover Beach mayor Debbie Peterson published a book. In her book, she cites the false conspiracy theory about me and attempts to substantiate it by citing footage taken of me at unspecified events. This conspiracy theory has resulted in me receiving nearly a decade of harassing messages and death threats.
In 2020, a robocall from someone claiming to be affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan was received by District 3 residents. The caller endorsed Supervisor Hill for re-election while making derogatory and homophobic comments about his opponent Stacy Korsgaden. On Facebook, Dury falsely claimed I was the source of the robocall, and I was contacted by the media about Dury’s false claim, which she apparently disseminated. Dury didn’t retract her accusation when it was revealed by SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow that former San Luis Obispo resident and self-styled “activist” Kevin P. Rice was the individual responsible for the robocall. Ironically, like Dury, Rice had also attempted to organize a sham candidates forum to demean his political opponent under the faulty guise of impartiality.
Like Rice, April Dury is a demonstrably unstable individual who should be held accountable for her stalking, harassment and malfeasance. As someone who was convicted of felony embezzlement, April Dury knows she’s on the wrong side of the facts as much as she’s been on the wrong side of the law. The Shredder is, once again, on point here.
Who validates the mail in ballots? Do you not see a huge opportunity for fraud there? They can be dropped a collection centers, mishandled at post offices and more. What about valid ID to register to vote? Is that asking too much?
Mr. Donegan’s comments are always interesting, though not in the way he imagines. Yes, it’s true that Democrats (as well as others who read and pay attention) dismiss the concerns of widespread election fraud, because there is absolutely zero evidence that it occurs. Even wild-eyed liberals like Trump appointed AG Bill Barr and Trump appointed Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen say there’s no evidence. Oh sure, there are isolated examples: Don Hartle (Nevada) pleaded guilty of voting for Trump twice , including in his dead wife’s name. Tracy Lee McKay (Arizona) voted for Republicans twice, including in her dead mother’s name, as did Robert Lynn (Pennsylvania). There were a handful of other cases in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Virginia of Republican voters voting twice (or attempting to), including one where Texas AG had to pay his promised $25K bounty to a Democrat who uncovered Republican voter fraud–not what AG Patrick had in mind when he offered up the bounty. But widespread? No. And Mr. Donegan would be wise to learn even the teensiest bit more about why Voter ID disenfranchises minority voters, especially in the slave states. According to the GAO, for example, “Nationally, up to 25% of African-American citizens of voting age lack government-issued photo ID, compared to only 8% of whites.” Your thoughts, Mr. Donegan?
“For example, look at how hard they fight against voter ID, making silly claims that there must be someone, somewhere, who doesn’t have an ID.”
As the Washington Post put it in 2016: “Getting a photo ID so you can vote is easy, unless you’re poor, black, Latino or elderly”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/co…
Of course, Mr. Donegan doesn’t want any of these “loonies” to vote because they might be liberal.
If tsankawi employed scientific analysis instead of dogma, he would realize that absence of proof is not proof of absence. Voter fraud may take place in a private environment, and can take a number of forms which would be difficult to detect or to assign culpability for.
Voter fraud is like littering. We know it occurs, because we see the results all around us, yet litterers are seldom prosecuted because most people have the sense to not do it in the presence of a cop.
An ID is already required to do lots of things, like to fly and collect welfare. It is required to exercise the Constitutional right to buy a gun and ammunition, as well as tobacco and alcohol.
Trump was unable to prove that fraud changed the outcome of the election, and thus should have dropped it. However, that is not proof that it never occurred, no matter how many shrill pronouncements the media makes.
My prediction: if Jones wins by a few hundred votes, which is possible, he will applaud the process and congratulate all around for a free and fair election.
But, if he loses by a few hundred votes, which is also possible, he will cry foul and say there was rampant fraud in the system. He will show the movie 2000 Mules on a continual loop and might even get his supporters to storm the County buildings in SLO with MAGA flags and tactical gear.
This is a new interpretation of law by Mr Donegan. “We can’t prove the defendant did NOT commit the crime, your Honor. For that reason, we ask you to find him guilty.” If you’re going to make massive changes to how people vote, John, including limiting mail-in ballots, drop boxes, and same-day registration, the burden of proof is on your tribe to demonstrate the need for such change, and justify it in the context of those who would be disenfranchised. The data clearly show that those persons would be the disabled, the poor, the minorities, the elderly–all the folks that Republicans routinely seek to harm.