If you were hoping for some SLO County election bombshells to turn our little Left Coast bubble upside down, sorry, Charlie. On a local level, the election has provided few surprises.
Yep, for the most part, the status quo continues. Results are still preliminary, mind you, but it seems pretty clear that instead of Republican candidate Steve Garvey becoming California’s next U.S. senator, Democrat Adam Schiff will replace interim Sen. Laphonza Butler, who Governor Gavin Newsom picked to replace deceased Sen. Diane Feinstein in 2023. Schiff will join California’s other Democrat senator, Alex Padilla. Go blue.
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal will continue to represent the 24th District, State Sen. John Laird will continue to represent the 17th District, Assemblymember Dawn Addis will continue to represent the 30th District. It’s the usual suspects. Go blue.
Most of the local mayor’s races were also surprise-free. In San Luis Obispo, current Mayor Eric Stewart thumped her sole opponent, perpetual candidate Donald Hedrick, about 85 to 15 percent. Before Stewart gets too puffed up about it, Hedrick—a fascinatingly eccentric human male—was not a serious contender. She might as well have been running unopposed. Morro Bay Mayor Carla Wixom did run unopposed and won 99.61 percent of the preliminary results. Of the 3,111 votes counted so far, she got all but 12. Hm. Who did you vote for instead, you dizzy dozen? Morro Bay High School‘s pirate guy mascot? Go black, white, and blue.
In some regards, our famously liberal state moved a little to the right when it came to some of the ballot measures. Proposition 36 looks destined to pass, which allows felony charges and increases sentences for certain drug and theft crimes, a shift away from 2021’s SB 567 that reduced criminal sentencing. Let’s fill those prisons, people! Proposition 33, which hoped to extend local governments’ authority to enact rent control, looks poised for defeat. Take heart, slumlords! Hoping for another minimum wage increase to $18 per hour thanks to Proposition 32? Not looking good, friends. Does it matter anyway? According to MIT, a single adult in California needs to earn $27.32 per hour to live. Go blue?
In a win for love, Proposition 3 should pass, effectively repealing a ban on same-sex marriage and creating a legislative constitutional amendment enshrining the right of all people to marry. Go blue!
Before I make you think it was totally no drama-o-rama on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, gather ’round the campfire, little ones, and let me tell you about a couple of people who want to represent you but who don’t seem to understand a politician owes a duty to the public to face journalistic scrutiny. Up in Paso Robles, City Council candidate Michael Rivera, when asked for a comment on the preliminary results of his race against Steve Gregory and Jeff Carr, emailed New Times reporter Libbey Hanson to inform her, “I would prefer not to speak to your publication. Please do not reach out to me any longer.”
Wow! What a baby-man! Well, seeing as how you’re losing to Gregory by nearly 10 points, your days of answering to the press are probably coming to a swift close, Rivera. Probably for the best considering the stink of your association with pro-eugenics group Californians for Population Stabilization, which the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled a hate group, still unctuously clings to you.
Guess who’s stinking it up in Grover Beach? It’s former mayor and current mayoral candidate Debbie Peterson, who also leads Grover H20, a group formed to protest proposed increased water rates to fund Central Coast Blue and its goal of a resilient water supply for Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande, and Pismo Beach. Kiss that project goodbye, thirsty Groverites.
New Times reporter Samantha Herrera attended Peterson’s election night party and asked if she could contact her for a comment the next day, and the answer was first, “I don’t prefer to talk to you,” and then she agreed to 9:30 a.m. When Herrera called at the penciled in time, no answer. Nada. Baby-woman!
Maybe she’s stinging from The Tribune reporting that she appears to be “bilking Grover Beach taxpayers” by receiving discounted utility rates under the guise of poverty. She owns vacation rentals here and one in Hawaii, the poor thing. She’s clearly impoverished.
And in a case of guilty by association, she was also not happy because apparently Peterson thought New Times’ photographer, who also attended the party, was trying to ambush her politically by taking pictures of her standing next to another party guest wearing a “Women for Trump” shirt when Debbie’s a Democrat. Debbie, Deb, Debster! New Times isn’t out to get you! We’re not trying to make you look bad! Why would we when you’re doing such a bang-up job of doing it yourself? Peterson’s poised to lose to Kassi Dee. But we shall see.
But hey! In a landslide, Kamala Harris trounced Donald Trump by a whopping 55 percent to 42 percent, according to prelim totals … in SLO County, which is part of the United States, which—maybe not overwhelmingly but certainly whelmingly—elected Trump as our 47th president. Sigh.
If you’re thinking, “Wow, this is a great day for aggrieved, vengeful, misogynistic, racist, xenophobic, sexist cisgendered white men,” I agree. The rest of us should be worried. Go blue. Δ
The Shredder is ready to shine its light. Tell it to brighten up at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 7-17, 2024.