I’ve been champing at the gears since I heard about the election fraud allegations against Gaea Powell—the candidate who was so easy to hate.
Her two runs for Arroyo Grande mayor were full of holier-than-thou accusations against local governing bodies about everything from First Amendment rights to favoring the LGBTQ-plus community to vaccines and mask mandates, going so far as to call our public health director a “dictator.”
This supposed “patriot” who railed against “bad actors” now stands accused of eight felonies associated with election fraud.
I’m flabbergasted!
Who does that?
Apparently, “a leader, not a state puppet politician,” as she declares on her Gaea for Mayor website. “Protect local landowner’s property rights,” she also declares. “Restore American values.”
Apparently, following election and voting rules are not such an American value, amirite?
And why is she the second South County conservative candidate to be charged with similar things? Inquiring minds want to know, Randall Jordan, does the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo condone this sort of behavior?
Michelle Morrow, who ran as a write-in candidate in the county’s 3rd District supervisor race in 2024, was sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years of felony probation for filing false nomination papers and fraudulent voting for her run against Dawn Ortiz-Legg in the March primary. She registered to vote at an address she didn’t live at so she could run for office. Was it worth it?
This is exactly what Powell’s being accused of—and more. In addition to voter registration fraud, fraudulent voting, and filing a false declaration of candidacy, District Attorney Dan Dow‘s office filed charges against her for failing to file campaign finance reports as well. Following campaign finance law? Apparently not an American value either.
“Ms. Powell’s alleged actions over multiple election cycles represent a serious breach of the public trust,” Dow said in a press release. “These charges demonstrate our commitment to holding accountable anyone who attempts to manipulate our elections processes.”
It’s good that Dow—a staunch and, at times, very loud right-winger—is holding those in his own party accountable for election fraud. However, others in his party aren’t stepping up. Those who have accused the county’s voting system of being rigged and fraudulent have been uncharacteristically quiet while their chosen candidates work their way through the justice system.
Politics have no place in the justice system, which Dow also said in his press release. But, in the past, he maybe hasn’t always practiced what he preached.
Remember Tianna Arata? The SLO County District Attorney’s Office was disqualified from prosecuting the case against her thanks to Dow and a conflict of interest. His reelection campaign sent out an email less than 48 hours after his office charged Arata with 13 misdemeanors for her role in leading Black Lives Matter protests in San Luis Obispo.
“He really needs your financial support so that he can keep leading the fight in SLO County against the wacky defund the police movement and anarchist groups that are trying to undermine the rule of law and public safety in our community,” the email said.
The line between politics and the justice system was looking real fuzzy there, but perhaps Dow’s seen the light.
It gets dark in ideological land sometimes. So dark that it’s easy to forget what our real values should be—like not committing election fraud, for instance.
For Paso Robles, everyone seems to forget why it started a paid parking program to begin with—before it led the entire city into the dark to fight over so many things. The parking conversation, which began well before former City Manager Ty Lewis stepped into his role at the city’s helm, basically resulted in his undoing and the city’s descent into a weird sort of madness.
That’s the oversimplified version, obviously, but still.
Certain Paso residents treated the downtown paid parking program as if it was Lewis’ idea. It wasn’t.
Employee parking, which is one of the reasons Paso ended up in the paid parking mess in the first place, finally reverted back to pre-2019 status quo.
Complaints about downtown businesses’ employees taking downtown customers’ spots spurred so many things, including designated parking lots for employees filled with parking spots they needed to pay to park in.
And now, after a year of grappling with complaints about the city’s solution to the something city residents had been complaining about, it’s over.
There’s no more paid parking in downtown Paso Robles—not for you, not for me, not for visitors, and definitely not for City Councilmember Steve Gregory.
He’s been talking about parking for quite some time.
“I don’t want to talk about parking anymore,” Gregory said during a 2018 meeting. “I want something done. Let’s get something accomplished.”
Back then, the city opted to study what it would take to build a parking garage. Turns out, those things cost beaucoup bucks. Just ask the city of SLO, which has its own paid parking program problems and residents who don’t want to pay to play.
Little did Gregory know in March of 2018 that in June of 2025, he would still be talking about parking.
I never get sick of talking about parking. It brings out people’s dark side. Kind of like politics. Δ
The Shredder has a paid parking spot that other people always park in. Send tow trucks to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jul 3-13, 2025.
“Just ask the city of SLO, which has its own paid parking program problems and residents who don’t want to pay to play.”
As the SLO city budget sits in the red, it builds yet another (3rd) monstrosity of a parking structure downtown. This structure is built in the hopes that it will making parking easier for an almost non-existent shopper to park their car to visit San Luis Obispo’s dead business corridor. I mean who DOESNT want to pay for parking just to go downtown and shop at a thrift store, throw axes at an indoor ax throwing operation, or buy a comic book at Captain Nemo’s? With these bustling businesses, the city must be overflowing with tax revenue and parking fees. Surely this will help plug the fiscal hole the city finds itself in. I wonder how many bonds they had to sell to pay for their THIRD useless parking structure?
Gaea Powell, and others like Paso Robles Councilman Bausch, in the maga alternative world, think everyone is out to get them.
Trump is their “reality tv victim” mentor. They project the corruption and crimes they do onto those they call their enemies.
It is as if they are living in an alternative land of opposites (projection) and funhouse mirrors.
If the conspiracists, Velie, Lehrer, George and O’Hagan conspiring with Bausch, in their self made Paso fiasco, want to find out who is really out to get them, they should all look in the mirror.
With all the unintelligent mistakes and different stories they make up, that are not consistent, to justify their conspiracy theories, they seem to be their own worst enemies.
lol, It’s really not funny but the lunacy makes me shake my head and laugh sometimes from observing the distortions of people living in an alternative reality, that really does not exist, except in their minds and in the chaos and damage they create. It is a shame.
They also claim to be super religious, but by their expressions on their faces they do not seem to be genuine people that I would want to spend time with. And they have many more in their political religious cults.
But luckily they are not the brightest bulbs in the shed, see arrests and convitions for Voter Fraud!
Here is a little research on the Teaparty, aka, now Maga, on Voting Fraud by elected officials:
To show how the GOP are hypocritical regarding voter fraud a strange thing happened recently as reported in the LA Times, in an article by Ricardo Lopez, titled Indiana secretary of state convicted of voter fraud.
The Republican Secretary of State, Charlie White, was convicted of voter fraud. Lopez said that an “Indiana jury found that the state’s top elections official, Charlie White, [was] guilty of six of seven felony charges related to voter fraud.
The Hamilton County jury convicted White of false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury” (Lopez, 2012). It seems the Tea Party Republicans may be trying to protect us all from their own fraudulent voting practices. These laws are really intended to disenfranchise millions of voters.
It appears that a defect in human character is apparent with the Tea Party. When a party is willing to cheat they always point the finger at the other party and accuse them of doing what the first party is actually doing [cheating] in secret for their own advantage.
This happens in bad relationships and corrupt governments. The intentional dumbing down of the Republican Party through their last two administrations (Bush & Cheney) has resulted in a strange pride of “willful ignorance” which most of us will not accept and which will hopefully backfire on the right-wing Republican Party.
If it does not we are all in trouble. Yes We Are!!!
Not all people voting for the Republican party are deluded conspiracy theorists, but what choice do we have? The Democratic party? Not in a million years. That party damn near started a nuclear war last Fall when their Commander-in-Chief authorized and equiped the Nazi regime of Ukraine to launch missiles into the interior of Russia. What does any rational person think would happen if one of our missiles landed in Red Square? We wouldn’t be here now. All other interests are subordinate to preventing a nuclear war. As I tell my friends, “I’d rather be alive under a fascist regime than dead under a liberal (Democrat) regime.” Ladies and gentlemen, nothing matters more than preventing a nuclear war, even if it means voting for Trump. The Democrats sold all of us out long ago.
The Fly engaging in more disinformation this week. There should be a label on his comments: “For Entertainment Purposes Only” because most of what he writes is pure fiction.
Michael:
The pot calling the kettle black. How will you survive 3.5 more years of a Republican administration? The best you might do is make some progress in the midterms 1.5 years from now. At that point, the damage will be done and all your party will be able to do is simply freeze legislation. And then, when presidential elections roll around 3.5 years from now, you might win the presidency but not both chambers of Congress. So if all the stars align, the best you can hope for is 6 years of gridlock. We won’t make it. I’m going to really enjoy reading your writing as you fall from what you thought was an unassailable perch as well as all the other rich, aged, liberals. Your Medicaid will be gone, inflation will be through the roof, the dollar will have collapsed as well as housing prices. You join all the other grey haired libs on the corners with quaint protest signs and relive the 60’s. After that, your generation disappears while the rest of us thank you for creating this dystopian hell hole. It’s not enough you robbed us, you spend your golden years using a pen scribble your hatred at those who dare think for themselves. Your parents left you a generational trust fund which, as you can see, your generation manage to squander. The benefits of winning WWII lasted a single generation, yours. The rest of us have returned to the Great Depression. Good job, Michael. Your generation’s lives were just one big party, from start to finish. Must have been nice.
You liberals have no economic plan. We want a full public option, taxation of the rich, and a public works programs with a modern WPA. Anything short of that is just BS. The decades of liberal promises just ring hollow and are the reason Trump was elected. Your party has failed. It’s only a matter of time before public education and public universities are defunded
“Berlin agrees to missiles targeting Moscow without debate”
https://youtu.be/xNqznC9YQo8?si=qtOrgQST2B…
We should all be alarmed. Let’s end NATO.
The dollar has lost almost 11% of its value in the last 6 months, the worst drop in 50 years and it’s just going to get worse. Can you imagine in another 6 months when it loses another 10%? Throw in tariffs too, lol. The economy is collapsing and so will government. Weimar USA.
Fly, I assume you’ll not support Cheeto?
Recent news reports, citing audio from a 2024 fundraiser, state that Donald Trump said he would have threatened to “bomb Moscow” if Russia invaded Ukraine during his presidency. He also said he would have attacked Beijing if China invaded Taiwan on his watch.
Jon K:
There’s a difference between bluster and actually bombing Russia, which your (war) party did through its proxy in Ukraine. Biden provided the MLRS and ATACMS missiles and targeting data with which Ukraine used to bomb inside the Russian interior, inching closer and closer to Moscow. This is why rational Americans rushed to the only candidate who said he’d end the war. The war continues, but the point is that he said he’d stop the war.
Further, who cares who said what, we almost had a nuclear exchange. Does anyone even see that or are they too consumed with partisan ideology to care? I suppose as the mushroom cloud went up somewhere here on the coast and as you, your family, and myself got turned to ash, your only concern would be getting the last word in. How pathetic.