Frank Ploof didn’t know it at the time, but while he was offloading cases of water at a homeless camp in triple digit heat, Little Sherry Lopez was half a mile away, slowly growing more disoriented as she tried to escape the battering rays of the sun. Ploof, who’s known Sherry since she began camping in Beard Brook Park almost four years ago, had finished distributing cases of bottled water […]
Kevin McCarthy: Are you Listening?
“A stake was driven through the heart of American democracy on January 6, 2021, and our democracy today is on a knife’s edge.” MJ Luttig When even Ann Coulter admits that Donald Trump is a grifter, there’s really no sense trying to convince those who still support him of the truth. Coulter is only the latest and most radical of nominal “conservatives” to dump Trump. Conservative pundits like David Brooks, […]
Valley Dems Survive Low Turnout: Speed Bumps Ahead
More than most anywhere else in the state, Valley Democrats depend on heavy turnouts to survive, especially during primaries, when crowded fields of candidates slice and dice votes so that outcomes often depend on hard-core voters whose loyalties tend deeply conservative and favor hard-right candidates. Even though turnouts for this year’s primaries rivaled all-time lows, outcomes were often surprising. In most races, Valley Democrats exceeded expectations, especially in the contest […]
Chad Condit, “not credible,” said Judge. We Agree
In 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Earl H Carroll ruled that Chad Condit’s testimony during a bankruptcy case was, “not credible.” Today, Condit’s claim to be a Democrat running for State Assembly is also not credible. Condit registered as a Democrat only a few short weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, an AstroTurf organization calling itself “Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy” began a smear campaign against Jessica Self, the only […]
Homeless: Doubling Down on Double Standards
Tim Byrd’s response to our last essay deserves a more prominent position than in “Comments,” so we’re posting it below, along with our reply. For those who don’t know, Mr. Byrd is Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow’s campaign manager. He is also a resident of Wood Colony and a graduate of Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law. To get a better understanding of the context of our remarks, please read our previous […]
Hypocrisy? Double Standards? The Supervisor has you Covered
Twenty-five years ago, Tony Madrigal made crude remarks to a female police officer during a late-night ride-along. Around the same time, he was cited for driving while texting. At one point, he had enough such traffic violations that his license was suspended. At the time, Madrigal served as a Councilmember for the City of Santa Cruz. Fast forward to today, when Modesto City Councilmember Tony Madrigal is running for Stanislaus […]
Dueling High Schools? A Cow? District 22 has you Covered
Among the more amusing campaign tactics in the San Joaquin Valley, few are as enduring as the “outsider” trope, which reached its height of absurdity in 2018, when incumbent Congressman Jeff Denham tried to label Turlock-born Josh Harder with outsider status because he had graduated from Stanford and Harvard and done business in the Bay Area. No matter that Denham was from southern California, his own business was located in […]
Stanislaus County: Where Government Fails the People
When incumbent Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow brags about his leadership, he likes to compare the county to the City of Modesto. That’s what he did during an interview with the Modesto Bee when he said, “Look at how the city is doing and ask if you want that kind of leadership for the county.” Withrow is running for office against Tony Madrigal, a current Modesto City Councilmember. Withrow was […]
Valley Voters: With Democracy in Peril
There are two imperatives this election year. First and foremost is the pressing need to defeat American authoritarianism. That need obliterates almost everything else. It can be addressed by withholding votes from Republicans no matter who or where they are and no matter what they’re running for. Led by Donald Trump, the Republican Party has made clear its opposition to free and fair elections, democratic rule, and commitment to the […]
Josh Harder’s Shadow Looms Over District 13 Race for Congress
The conventional wisdom says Merced’s Adam Gray is an easy winner in this year’s race for Congress in California’s newly configured District 13 (CA-13). Gray’s years in the State Assembly District in the same region as CA-13 give him what amounts to incumbent status and his careful cultivation of the conservative Democrat “Blue Dog” persona theoretically immunizes him from threats to his right. It’s supposedly impossible for San Joaquin Valley […]