Are you guys ready for another election season?
Because it’s upon us whether we like it or not. The 2026 primary is less than a year away, and everyone is announcing their runs for SLO County supervisor.
Is a year too long to campaign or not long enough? Honestly, the campaign cycle feels endless. And here we go again. We’ll have two races with registered Democrats running against “nonpartisan” affiliated candidates.
Conservative Adam “I hate Charles Varni” Verdin is running against 4th District Supervisor Jimmy “I swear I’m not political” Paulding, who probably isn’t sitting too comfortably in his liberal-leaning chair right now. I think that campaign could get a little below-the-belt action. I’ll be here!
Ex-Republican Michael “Erin” Woody (Touché! He already uses a middle name.) is battling soon-to-be-former SLO Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Dantona for the liberal 2nd District seat being vacated by Bruce Gibson at the end of 2026.
Woody left the elephants’ side of the country six years ago, he said.
“After a few years of Donald Trump, I found that the GOP no longer represented my values or my ethics,” he said. “It’s very liberating to discuss each issue on individual merits without the weight of a political party ideology to worry about.”
I’m not sure how you could have stayed in the party as long as Woody did. Trumplethinskin is a total deviant, an egomaniac who insists on pressing the country’s buttons in a way that preys on division and the most vulnerable to maintain his choke hold over the most extreme members of his party. And they love him for it! Gross. I just don’t understand. I can’t believe we’ve been talking about this bag of dicks and his policies for a decade. And we’ve got at least three more years of headline news ahead of us and who knows what else.
But. I digress.
In a district that raised $700,000-plus in 2022 to fund the closest race in district history, Woody believes he can raise campaign funds in $500 increments even though the county’s cap is currently $5,500 per donor. At least it’s not $25,000 anymore! We can thank Paulding for his part in that 3-2 vote to overturn that ridiculousness when he got into office in 2023! Whew!
Woody also claims that PACs can hit the road. He doesn’t want any money from you shadowy political action committees, and he doesn’t want dark money buying campaign ads on his behalf either.
“If you need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to run your race, and have people tell you what to say and what to do, and how to market yourself, you really don’t belong in office,” he said.
Yeah! Just look at Trump. He doesn’t listen to anybody and does whatever he feels right about in the moment, even if it’s the opposite of what he did in the last moment. He doesn’t belong in office, but he got elected! And you can too.
It’s nice to be idealistic. But realistically, most politicians do need people around them, money absolutely wins races, and most candidates who run their campaigns as true “grassroots” efforts don’t end up seeing the inside of a policy-making chamber. No one can be the expert in everything, and everybody needs help.
But Woody is right about one thing: This county has been too full of partisanship for too long.
“We have a Board of Supervisors that is a local government entity that is supposed to be this nonpartisan group of people,” he said. “But what we have in this county Board of Supervisors is week after week, month after month, and year after year of partisanship.
“This has to stop.”
Not just here. But everywhere.
It has to stop. Compromise and moderation is what built our country. Divisive ideology is what’s tearing it apart.
Greek life is what’s tearing San Luis Obispo apart. That’s according to a certain group of residents who live in one neighborhood that’s close to Cal Poly.
“What we’re talking about is a really small minority of students who are causing an outsized problem,” sitting SLO City Councilmember and onetime Alta Vista resident Jan Marx said.
And at least one other resident is also leaving for other SLO neighborhoods: Kathie Walker, a wheel that’s been squeaking in the city’s ear about the havoc partying students wreak on her neighborhood. She’s even called for sorority and fraternity addresses to be released to the public. I bet those fraternities and sororities are heaving a huge sigh of relief.
But don’t breathe too deeply. She’s not the only Alta Vista resident who’s registered complaints, and those complaints and more inspired a grand jury report advocating for more changes to city policy when it comes to dealing with you hooligans.
“Many long-term residents have given up calling the police when little to nothing is done to stop the parties, resulting in many taking the drastic measure of moving away from their long-term homes, causing even more homes in those neighborhoods to turn into student rentals,” Carolyn Smith wrote in a letter to the City Council.
The city is pulling itself together to figure out how to continue addressing the issue. But the students will keep partying, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Δ
The Shredder is too old to party hardy. Send Ibuprofen to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in 55 Fiction 2025.
Cal Poly has existed long before you ever lived in your campus-adjacent house. Maybe you should have thought about that before living there, perhaps?