The waning weeks of the 2nd District San Luis Obispo County supervisor race are getting nasty.
Attack ads targeting incumbent candidate Bruce Gibson are flooding local mailboxes, social media feeds, and radio airwaves.
And the most vicious of the ads are not funded by Gibson’s Nov. 8 election opponent, Bruce Jones. They’re backed by two recently jump-started political action committees (PACs): “Back the Badge” and “Safer SLO County.”
Both PACs mobilized in the last month to oppose Gibson and have since raised nearly $100,000 in combined funds, according to public filings. With just a few weeks left in early voting, Gibson and Jones are tussling for final votes in what’s expected to be a close contest for a swing seat on the Board of Supervisors.
The two primary PAC financiers are SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow—whose reelection campaign donated $25,000 to Back the Badge—and Frontpoint Partners LLC, a Newport Beach-based entity that poured $50,000 into Safer SLO County.
Others who pitched in $1,000 or more are the Republican Party of SLO County, Randall Flamm, Irene Mullen, David Low, and Joe Rouleau.
The PACs’ recent flurry of advertising targets Gibson on public safety and his former friendship with late 3rd District Supervisor Adam Hill, who was accused of bribery in a recent FBI corruption investigation.
“Now it’s time to meet the Godfather. Gibson was his [Hill’s] puppet master,” an ominous voice alleges in one of Safer SLO County’s radio ads.
The ad goes on to call Gibson “a corrupt cheater who likes calling the shots in SLO County.”
“Cut off his strings,” the voice urges listeners.
Back the Badge’s ads accuse Gibson of being anti-law enforcement. A series of Facebook ads calls him “pro-criminal” and “dangerous,” with images of crime scenes and body bags interspersed.
“Pro-criminal Bruce Gibson is making our community less safe by seeking to defund our local police and voting three times against improving public safety,” one of the ads reads.
The Gibson campaign is pushing back against the PACs with ads of its own, which describe the attacks as a mix of “insinuation, innuendo, and outright lies.”
“Supervisor Gibson’s opponent promised to run a dirty campaign. Dark-money front groups backing him have delivered,” a recent Gibson Facebook ad reads. “Don’t buy the lies the con artists are selling.”
According to mandatory campaign filings, Back the Badge is managed by a Sacramento-based consulting firm, Political Finance Solutions. The group’s been active since 2018, mobilizing during election seasons to oppose local Democratic candidates—like 5th District supervisor candidate Ellen Beraud in 2020, and 4th District Supervisor-elect Jimmy Paulding earlier this year.
Dow didn’t respond to a request for comment about his campaign’s donation to Back the Badge, but he was recently quoted by CalCoastNews about it, saying: “I support electing candidates who support law enforcement and who make neighborhood safety a top priority.”
Safer SLO County, the other PAC, first formed in September. Its $50,000 donor—Frontpoint Partners LLC—is registered to a company out of Las Vegas that appears to specialize in establishing LLCs, according to its website.
Greg Grewal, an officer for Safer SLO County and a Creston resident, didn’t return a request for comment before press time, but he was also quoted by CalCoastNews lambasting Gibson’s character and saying: “It’s time for Bruce Gibson to go.”
Gibson told New Times that he’s not surprised to see the recent barrage of ads. His opponents “have nothing else to run on,” he said.
“I think people understand this is a desperation move,” Gibson said. “Their candidate can’t compete on the merits.”
Addressing one of the ad’s allegations—that he voted to defund the police—Gibson said that he joined 1st District Supervisor John Peschong and 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton in approving a budget in 2020 that included some cuts to public safety as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.
“We were facing a $25 million hole in the budget,” Gibson said. “The deal was that public safety departments would have their general fund contribution reduced by 1 percent. All other departments would be reduced by 4 percent. That came before the board, with the sheriff’s support. To suggest I defunded the sheriff’s department is utter nonsense.” Δ
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 6, 2022.