Well, it finally happened. The Holy Spirit of SLO County has spoken.
And I’m not talking about 35th District candidate Vicki “Church” Nohrden, who’s so far getting a solid drubbing from opponent Dawn “Grassroots Campaign” Addis, who can fairly confidently assume she’s the Central Coast’s next Assembly member. I guess writing a book about liberal policies being the devil and horrific natural disasters being punishment from God doesn’t give you a leg up in California. Who knew?
I’m talking about the new “Kingmaker,” SLO County District Attorney Dan “I Decide The Rules” Dow, who dumped $25,000 of his primary campaign dollars into the race for control of the SLO County Board of Supervisors via Back the Badge, his favorite political action committee. John Peschong better move over, there’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s not Ian Parkinson.
Dow apparently has so much riding on this race that trying to back-alley his support with dirty campaign mailers against incumbent 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson wasn’t enough. No, this sitting elected official who’s in charge of prosecuting nonpartisan criminals decided he needed to pen an editorial declaring his extremely partisan opinion on the race.
But he didn’t send it to New Times. I guess we should call the wahmbulance.
Couching his opinion with the ol’ tried-and-true “public safety is No. 1” adage, Dow’s commentary in The Tribune made it abundantly clear that public safety might actually be No. 3 in his book. Partisanship is definitely No. 2! The church is obviously No. 1.
Dow is more scared about conservatives potentially losing their grip on the Board of Supervisors than he is about public safety: “[Gibson] has tried to embarrass us and has attempted to lecture us with his ‘progressive’ ideas,” Dow whines.
The us he’s referring to? Sheriff Parkinson and himself. I’m not sure Gibson needs to try. These two are pretty good at embarrassing themselves.
The county jail has been under ongoing local and federal scrutiny for the mental health care it provides to inmates for years—and what happened to Andrew Holland was a tragic reminder of how unfit SLO County’s correctional officers are to deal with mental health issues. That being said, I think Parkinson has come around to the reality of what needs to be fixed in his department as well as the fact that systemic racism is not a conspiracy theory.
Meanwhile, Dow is lost in ideology land. He managed to get his office disqualified from prosecuting a case that is indicative of his persistent partisan bent and he can’t take no for an answer: California Supreme Court, here SLO County comes for a case about something that is arguably less important than every single other case his office handles!
Dow will prosecute activist Tianna Arata for protesting on the freeway if it takes the rest of his career. But a Paso Robles cop who actively stalked and assaulted more than one woman while he was wearing a law enforcement uniform? Not enough evidence to prosecute!
Sorry, not sorry! Back the Badge, you know?
It’s not really about public safety at all. It’s a vendetta.
“Gibson can’t wait to get a progressive majority on the board so that he can continue his fight as a warrior for the progressive left,” Dow wrote. “I’m proud to be a warrior for justice and truth and law enforcement.”
He forgot a few warrior-type things: He’s also a warrior for Jesus, right-wing propaganda, and bending the facts to suit his needs. There’s nothing truthy about any of that.
Meanwhile, we’ve got an actual election to tend to. The race between Dr. Bruce Jones and Gibson is a nail-biter, folks! We’ll be puckering for at least another week, as we breathlessly await the outcome in the 2nd District. Although Gibson is currently in the lead, Jones seems confident that he’ll sneak out ahead by the end.
And if he doesn’t, rest assured that the SLO County Citizen’s Action Team PAC is standing by with an already filled-out recount request and a lawsuit against the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office if the recount doesn’t change the election results. MAGA until they run out of money, baby!
There were tens of thousands of ballots left to count as of the early hours of Nov. 9, according to Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano. And who knows how many mail-in ballots will trickle in because voters are a bunch of procrastinators who like to wait until the last minute to pop that sucker in the mail.
Inquiring minds want to know! But we’ll have to wait it out until the bitter end.
At least some races look like a sure thing. Paso Robles Joint Unified School District instigator-in-chief board member Chris Arend is likely out! With his conservative standing in the community and lead-taking on hot-button culture war topics, who knew that would happen?
The Republican Party of SLO didn’t think Arend was the right guy to push their political agenda on the children, I guess, so like the smart folks they are, they endorsed Peter Byrne, and together Arend and Byrne split the culture war wing of Paso Robles in half, giving the most sane candidate in the race, Jim Cogan, a huge advantage!
Hoorah! Cogan is now biding his time until the vote counts are in!
Aren’t we all. Δ
The Shredder is impatiently grinding away. Send thoughts and prayers to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 10-20, 2022.
Looks like the Red Tsunami was just a big ketchup stain.
Dow is not a “warrior for Jesus”. He’s a MAGA cultist and devotee of Dear Leader Trump.He’s obsessed with prosecuting a young female activist who did nothing worse than temporarily block traffic on Santa Rosa Road yet he protects a rogue cop who assaulted women. Dow is an outright bully and fascist who, along with his fellow cultists, wants to overthrow democracy and replace it with a Russia-style autocracy. He also admires the Jan 6 insurrectionists and their sacking of the U.S Capitol. So much for “backing the badge”.
Dow is not a “warrior for Jesus.” He’s a devotee of Trump, who is worshiped as lord and savior by MAGA republicans.
Congratulations to Dawn Addis. I’m sure she will do a great job.
And congrats to Ms. Cano for a well-run election so far. I know there was a glitch with some candidate information, but that shouldn’t mar the fact that democracy is working in SLO County.