A Political Plagiarism Mystery; Wussup with Mollie? Doomsday Looms for House Dems

April 1, 2022, 10:03 am 5.5k Views 17 Comments

By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers

Not since John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day — July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — has there been such a political coincidence as recently surfaced in Santa Barbara’s 2022 election campaign.

Amazing but true, two local candidates — one for the state Legislature and one for county school superintendent — provided reporters with virtually identical statements about the rationale for their campaigns without, each says, peeking at the other’s paper.

On Friday, March 11, former Supervisor Mike Stoker announced he is running for Santa Barbara’s 37th district seat in the Assembly, and included this statement to supporters and the media, as reported by Josh Molina at Noozhawk:

“Whether you’re Democrat, Independent or Republican, if you think California is headed in the right direction don’t vote for me…But if you think California is headed in the wrong direction and you want to see our state take a reset and rethink these policies, if you think California is worth saving and turning things around … then I am your man.”

Four days later, teacher Christy Lozano spoke to the Independent about her just-launched campaign for County Superintendent of Schools, and stated the following during the March 15 interview with staff reporter Jun Starkey:

“Whether you’re Democrat, Independent, or Republican, if you think schools are headed in the right direction, don’t vote for me. But if you think our schools are headed in the wrong direction and you want a reset and rethink of school policies…then I am your candidate.”

Coincidence? You be the judge.

Do great minds think that alike?

We phoned up Stoker, the first to utter the immortal verbiage above, and he expressed bafflement at the similarity, saying that he had only recently met Lozano and spoken to her just briefly.

“I’ve been around a long time and if you know me, you know I write my own stuff,” he said, “and I wrote my own campaign announcement.”

A short time later, Newsmakers emailed Lozano, seeking her help in unraveling the mystery.

“LOL,” she wrote back. “Your question is a compliment, while I admire Mike Stoker, this is my statement.”

We sought clarification in a follow-up email, asking specifically if there had been any contact or communications with Mike or his campaign involved in crafting her comments,

“Jerry, draw what conclusions you wish but your comments and assumptions are yours,” she wrote back. “So, in the court of Jerry Roberts I have been clear with my messaging to voters continuing to state that I don’t believe schools are headed in the right direction of which many parents and teachers share the same concern.”

Mulling the timeless phrase, “non-denial denial,” Newsmakers took one more stab at solving the puzzle last night, asking Lozano for “yes” or .”no” answers to several key questions, including:

  • Did you see Mike Stoker’s comments before you gave your statement to the Independent?

  • Do you wish to claim you wrote your comments yourself?

At post time, Christy hadn’t responded. Update: Lozano responded late last night but, alas, didn’t answer the questions we ask. Instead she wrote this: “I think a great story for you to use your sleuthing skills for would be figuring out who hired Molly (sic) Culver to sue me and try to undermine and destroy our democratic process.” So there’s that.

P.S. At one point, we also asked Lozano for the name and contact info for her campaign manager so we could discuss the nuts and bolts of her bid for superintendent. “As to my campaign advisor, that is internal campaign information,” she responded. Which…huh?.

The litigious Mollie Culver

Lozano is running as a conservative challenger — think anti-vax mandates, anti-woke racism instruction,, anti-sex ed — to incumbent superintendent Susan Salcido.
 
(Issues aside, a victory would come with a nice salary bump: Christy made about $108,000 in salary and benefits as a physical education teacher in 2019, the last year for which data is available on the government transparency website CalSalaries; Susan made $278,000 in total compensation the same year, according to the site).
 
As political junkies already know, Lozano was successful this week in legally staying in the race, defeating a lawsuit, filed under the name of Democratic political consultant Mollie Culver, that sought to strike her name from the ballot.
 
The Good Golly Ms. Mollie suit argued that Christy should not be allowed to run because she lacks the proper credential to qualify formally as a school administrator – although she does have a credential that authorizes her to seek employment as an administrator.
 
In a first-rate piece of enterprise lawyering, her attorney, John Thyne III, argued that Lozano’s campaign represents her effort to obtain such employment – and that winning the superintendent’s post would complete her certificate for qualification. As the philosopher Agrippa might have said, circulus in probando.
 
In a quick ruling that beat the deadline for printing voting materials by one day, Judge Colleen Sterne bought Thyne’s argument, ruling that his client’s name should remain on the ballot and leaving to voters the task of sorting the matter out.
 
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the lawsuit was that Culver, a hard-nosed campaign operative who much prefers operating below the radar, emerged as the plaintiff.
 
Mollie’s been a little spotty about returning our calls lately, but the Angry Poodle appears to have solved this mystery in the Indy, tracing the matter to her longtime connection to Jack O’Connell, an ex-SB representative in Sacramento, as well as a former California Superintendent of Public Instruction. From Nick Welsh’s column:
 
Representing Culver is a Sacramento law firm that frequently represents the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, on the board of which incumbent Salcido sits.
 
Culver is also exceptionally tight with former State Assemblymember, former State Senator, and former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who still works closely with the aforementioned statewide cabal of county superintendents. The play here looks to be that Jack called Mollie, who sued Joe to keep Christy off the ballot. Got it?
 
Indeed we do.

Big wave threatens Dems

Big brains Back East who follow such things tell us that Democrats are headed for a major wipeout in November’s mid-term congressional elections, with Trump-allied Republicans all-but-certain to flip the House from blue to red – and well-positioned to take back the Senate too.

Get ready for Joe Biden’s impeachment, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Intelligence Committee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene (ok we made that last one up – but nothing would surprise Newsmakers at this point).

There are all sorts of explanations for this state of affairs – midterms are historically a referendum on the party of the incumbent President, which nearly always loses seats and, shockingly, Biden’s approval rating, is worse than Trump’s was at this point in his presidency.

You could look it up.
 
 
 

The common sense problem

Beyond that, it’s also a plain fact that independents, moderate Republicans and even some centrist Democrats who backed Biden have been turned off by some of the far-left positions and actions taken by the president’s progressive “allies” in the Congress, led by the reliably annoying AOC, as demonstrated clearly by a just out NBC News poll.
 
The pundit who has most consistently and convincingly made that case is the Democratic political scientist Ruy Texeira, who argues in “The Liberal Patriot,” his Substack newsletter, that Dems have “abandoned common sense” on issues like defunding the police, transgender surgery for teens and categorical accusations about racism, and thereby are “losing the plot relative to the median voter.” Texeira writes:
 
It’s truly amazing the extent to which Democrats have become associated with the view that disparities in American society can only be attributed to oppression and discrimination, particularly when it comes to race. No other explanation need apply.
 
But this defies common sense and is not the way normal voters see it, including normal nonwhite voters…It may be easy to convince left-leaning academics and progressive activists that the mere existence of disparities is proof of discrimination and racism. But the American people are a harder sell.

Newsmakers sez: check it out.

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Written by Jerry Roberts

“Newsmakers” is a multimedia journalism platform that focuses on politics, media and public affairs in Santa Barbara. Learn more at newsmakerswithjr.com

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17 Comments

  3. HA, that joke Christy Lozano is running for superintendent? Amazing. This is the dolt that went on Fox News recently to spread misinformation about SBUSD’s antiracism training. You can Google her and see all the other stupid things she’s been up to locally, including threatening to quit her job over vaccine mandates for school employees.

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  4. Ol’ Cristy was a guest speaker at some right wing group up in lompoc. One California State ? These are the wing nuts supporting her. Like minded anti vaxxers on Next Door were calling her the savior of our schools. She needs to go out on leave and get some rest and counseling. Another big mistake by Joe Holland.

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  8. LMAO Hunter Biden’s laptop. Why don’t you go and find D.B. Cooper and see if he’s behind all the chemtrails. What a crock of nonsense. Didn’t Giuliani or some likeminded clown (can’t keep track) trot out some “IT expert” who claimed to have “Examined the contents” then when pressed further said he was legally blind? Maybe Marjorie Green should focus on the a Jewish space lasers instead, that seems like a bigger threat.

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  9. Christy Lozano’s values do not match the values of the majority of families in Santa Barbara. From what I can tell she is another far-right ideologue who is looking for 15 minutes of fame on Fox News. I would also want to see someone with a higher level of qualifications than PE teacher and home school principal. Maybe if she relocates to Kentucky or Missouri she could gain some momentum with her CRT boogeyman platform.

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  11. It is looking more and more like the November election will be decisive. Now that even the left wing media has finally admitted the hunter biden laptop is genuine and not “Russian disinformation” there will be ample grounds to start the impeachment process. I expect we will learn much more about the Biden family’s shady business dealings. The second half of Biden’s term will be interesting indeed!

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  14. Dems have “abandoned common sense” on issues like defunding the police, transgender surgery for teens and categorical accusations about racism, and thereby are “losing the plot relative to the median voter.” If the Progressives push the left to run on these issues they will lose bigtime…poll after poll bear this out. We need to get back to a center approach, where both sides work together instead of where the loud fringe voices overtake the parties on both sides of the aisle.

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  15. The economy is thriving, jobs have returned, the United States is recognized again as a respected leader in NATO, Europe and the world….. and yet we want right wing Republicans back because a few kids get genital surgery, and racists are unhappy with the “big tent” Democrats. The police defunding is just a big lie. In fact, Biden’s budget has $32 billion in increased funding for police. From 538 website: “According to Marist/NPR/PBS, Biden’s approval/disapproval spread on the issue of Ukraine shot up from 34/50 in mid-February to 52/44 in early March. His overall approval/disapproval increased from 39/55 to 47/50. And according to Morning Consult/Politico, his approval/disapproval on Ukraine went from 42/45 in late February to 46/42 in early March. His overall approval/disapproval went from 41/56 to 45/51 over that same span. ”

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  17. So it’s misinformation if materials available for teachers to use is referred to as “curriculum” and defund the police doesn’t really mean “defund” the police. This is tough but I think I got it!

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