Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor. The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Mendocino Voice. If you would like to submit a letter to the editor feel free to write to info@mendovoice.com.
Dear Editor:
Now more than ever, we need well informed, thoughtful, inclusive leadership on the Fort Bragg City Council.
Decisions we make today will be felt for decades.
Both the Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee and Coast Democratic Club have endorsed Jason Godeke, Tess Albin-Smith and Mary Rose Kaczorowski for Fort Bragg City Council. And please vote YES on Measure B to support our fire department to stay up-to-date and ready!
Please remember to vote early!
Laura Bianchi Limbird
Secretary, Coast Democratic Club
Member, Mendocino County Democratic Central Committee
Member, SEIU 1021
While I don’t have any particular issues with these three candidates, they aren’t who I am choosing to vote for this time because I think other candidates better represent the interests of the people of Fort Bragg. The Coast Dems are a club that doesn’t have a lot of credibility anyway in my opinion, particularly since they can only endorse registered Democrats and chose to endorse their three members who are running this time. That is hardly surprising but it diminishes the value. I mean who cares if people endorse themselves?
I support Marcia Rafanan and Scott Mayberry and haven’t decided on my third choice, although it will probably one of the three endorsed by this club (despite not because of it). Frankly, this endorsement makes me less likely to vote for them because I am not sure why any candidate would want this particular endorsement. The Coast Dems used to have some reasonable members but I believe many of them have left and the current leadership is questionable at best, particularly Laura Bianchi Limbird who seems like a pushy bully to me with her attacks on candidates. Last election she was spreading all kinds of false rumors about the candidates she didn’t support and I wouldn’t be surprised if she is doing it again. I recommend anyone take her letter with a grain of salt, although I certainly won’t hold it against any of the candidates. They aren’t responsible for the actions of their supporters unless they engage in them too.
Jacob:
Thank you for your question. The reason that a candidate would want a Democratic endorsement is because ~63% of Fort Bragg voters are Democrats.
I have encountered an aggressive bully named “Nathaniel Holmes” on Facebook. He bears a striking resemblance to you in his words and actions. He even sent me a threatening message on Facebook in an attempt to silence me. Would you contact your preferred candidates and ask them to stop him from viciously attacking community members? He seems to be using his troll platform to solely to further their campaigns and I am certain that, once it is brought to their attention, they will realize that it does not look good for their campaigns.
I am aware of the registered voter numbers in FB but the City Council is a non-partisan office that has nothing to do with political party and voting history plays that out in past elections. We don’t have Democratic or Republican candidates for City Council. These types of endorsements may have some relevance to partisan state or federal offices but that isn’t what we are talking about. Plus, a local club doesn’t speak for all Democrats, it speaks for the particular members of that club, the current leadership team of which includes at least one member who is well-known but not in a good way–I am not talking about you or Lindy. My point isn’t that Democratic viewpoints are not that big of a deal, but that the Coast Dems themselves aren’t. I know many Democrats who used to be members and stopped for a variety of reasons, including concerns about the club but maybe those are past concerns and not current ones. Regardless, I am not a Democrat, I don’t have a political party, so when it is relevant to an office, I vote for a mix of candidates, both Republican and Democrat, but I don’t factor that in for City Council or the Board of Supervisors. I voted for Bernie Norvell and I think he is a registered Republican as well as local politicians who don’t have a party like me or who I know are registered as Democrats but that is just tangential information not a factor in who I choose to support. I care about how people will vote on matters before the City Council and find that political party doesn’t drive much of that. As such, most people I know don’t care that much about the political party of our local candidates so I am not sure there is that big of a connection between a partisan recommendation from a club that can only endorse registered Democrats (and couldn’t for example, endorse Jessica Morsell-Haye when she ran even though a lot of the members preferred her in that election because she had no political party affiliation like a lot of Californians). If you came to my yard right now you’d see a Yes on B sign. There is a Tess sign on my common fence with one neighbor and Marcia signs on my common fence with the neighbors on both sides. I have a Mayberry sign too. I signed Mary Rose’s nomination papers and appreciate her regular involvement. But I still don’t think that any of their political parties matter nor do I view the Council elections through a political party lens.
I attended the Coast Democrat Club meeting where members voted unanimously to support Godeke, Albin-Smith, and Kaczorowski for City Council. I stress the “unanimously” part, because the candidates were well vetted and in addition to a report from a candidates review committee (which reviewed and interviewed each candidate about their qualifications,) everyone at the meeting had an opportunity to voice their preference or to nominate other candidates for endorsement. Jacob, if you don’t want to be a Democrat, I can respect that as your right. But why attack Democrats for freely and openly expressing their preferences for the City Council. The Democrat and Republican Parties have very different approaches to governance, which impact all levels of government in this country – even city council decisions. Democrats have a right to express their perspective as much as anyone. And attacking Laura Bianchi personally and dragging in personal grudges, seems petty, mean-spirited and vindictive. Can’t we keep this civil and about the candidates, rather than dragging in personal comments regarding others in the community not on the ballot?
Laura is more than a problematic in my experience and attacking all kinds of people with false and sometimes defamatory allegations to try to discredit them when they disagree with her, including me. (If you dish it out, you should be able to deal with it coming back at you.) I think she is unethical and understand she probably feels the same way about me, but I feel any organization that allows her to hold an influential role is less credible as a result. You may feel orherwise, which I respect. In any case, most of my family are life-long Democrats and I have no issue with Dems in general but I do have concerns about the Coast Democratic Club specifically, particularly their current leadership and think it is important to distinguish between a particular club and the broader population. I know that a lot of Dems I respect, including past long-time members who held leadership positions, dropped their membership because they were concerned about changes at and the direction of the club. I trust their judgment. Personally, I have no political party affiliation and regularly vote for a mix of Democrats and Republicans and even candidates from smaller parties. For a non-partisan office like city council or supervisor, I care about the person, not their views on social policy, which are relevant to partisan CA and federal offices but no so much to local offices. For context, I personally signed Mary Rose’s nomination papers and there is a Tess sign on one of the common fences I have with my neighbors. I also have Marcia and Scott signs and a Yes on B sign so I am not completely out of synch with the Coast Democratic Club endorsements, even though I obviously didn’t vote for all of the four candidates I mention. I just think that a club voting to endorse its own members who are running that can also only endorse registered Democrats, isn’t particularly useful or informative. Having Laura in a role that manages the club’s communications also is a red flag for me and many people I talk to. Laura is also directly involved in the GRI candidate interviews that suspiciously omitted one candidate she doesn’t like and then didn’t originally record the interview of the other candidate she didn’t like–I assume that wasn’t intentional because Jade said as much and I find him credible and appreciate his perspective on issues even when we don’t agree–but I just heard today the videos of the candidates Laura doesn’t like are no longer available. Based on all this, I don’t think my reservations are without merit. Do you know that she said she would quit her job at the City of FB if Marcia and Scott are elected rather than her preferred candidates (presumably Jason, Mary Rose, and Tess), at least according to other City Hall staff who told me that? Does that sound like a fair and reasonable person to put in charge of election-related outreach? I don’t expect people to be unbiased and not promote their preferred candidates but I also think putting people with such strong and set opinions in positions of influence related to evaluating local candidates diminshes the usefulness of the resulting endorsements. This length feels rant-adjacent so I will leave it at that.