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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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Raise Taxes? City Residents are Already Taxed Twice

Ever since the Dick Lang administration of the 1990’s, Modesto City Government has been perpetually broke. Subsequent city leaders have had very little discretionary money with which to operate. The present city council is considering whether to ask voters to approve a special sales tax within Modesto to alleviate ongoing budget shortfalls. To decide whether […]

Esmeralda Soria: Doing More and Doing it Better

When we heard Fresno City Councilwoman Esmeralda Soria was running for Assembly in the Valley’s District 27, we wanted to know more about her. We were even more intrigued when we looked at her impressive list of endorsements, including those from State Controller Betty Yee, State Senate Member Anna Caballero, and former Lieutenant Governor Cruz […]