Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
This just in
Mike Stoker, erstwhile Trump Administration official and Santa Barbara’s favorite Republican provocateur, has arranged for a local campaign appearance this week by Larry Elder, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief GOP rival in the Sept. 14 recall election.
“Let’s send a message to Larry that Santa Barbara is Larry Elder for Governor Country ! (sic)” Stoker wrote in an e-blast invitation for a Sunken Gardens rally at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, identifying himself as a “Senior Policy Adviser for the Elder for Governor campaign,”
Which is kinda being “Chief of Staff to Nick Welsh.”
Putting aside that Elder is wayy old news (Newsmakers Las Vegas Bureau Chief Nicky (Knuckles) Parmagiana has set the point spread for a Prince Gavin victory at 8.5. percent), he managed to produce considerable evidence in the past few days alone that SB may not, in fact, be Elder for Governor Country.
Amid national outrage over severe new restrictions Texas has placed on abortion, among those who support a woman’s right to choose, prominent anti-abortion activist Lila Rose tweeted her endorsement of Elder, along with a laundry list of actions sought by the pro-life movement which she said he had agreed to take as governor; when Sacramento Bee reporter Lara Korte later attempted to ask him about it, Elder’s security team manfully blocked her from doing so.
The motor mouth candidate also handed Newsom a fundraising bonanza when he promised, if elected, to appoint a Republican to replace Senator Dianne Feinstein, flipping control of the Senate; of course, there’s not a vacant seat just yet, but Elder nonetheless slimed the 88-year old Feinstein to suggest there would be soon, claiming she is “in even worse mental condition than Joe Biden” and that “nobody’s seen her in weeks” (secret memo to Larry: they got this thing called “C-Span” now, which airs committee, floor and other business of the Senate; Newsmakers sez check it out).
Over the weekend, it also was reported that Elder had argued in another interview that slave holders should receive reparations “because slavery was legal and their property had been taken,” while CNN unearthed past comments in which he claimed, after being accused of sexual harassment, that it couldn’t be true because his accuser was too ugly.
In a piece headlined, “Is Elder Torching the Recall?” Politico reporters Carla Marinucci and Jeremy White pulled the threads together and sought reaction from several of the original leaders of the recall campaign:
Said one, former Yolo County sheriff’s sergeant Orrin Heatlie, “I rejected his candidacy from the get-go, because he’s so far outspoken on the extreme.’’
Hey, welcome to Santa Barbara anyway, Larry.
Kristen vs Barrett, Round 1
Lock up the kids, Maude, the first throw down between Kristen Sneddon and Barrett Reed will be live-streamed on Wednesday evening.
The Santa Barbara City Council District 4 campaign between incumbent Sneddon and challenger Reed offers the only one-on-one matchup in 2021’s last-time-ever odd-year municipal election.
It is the third candidate event co-sponsored by Newsmakers, SB Talks and TVSB, following forums in the mayor’s race and in the District 6 council contest. Check TVSB’s Facebook page for more on the 5:45 p.m. livestream.
Eight weeks before the Nov. 2 election, the choice between Sneddon and Reed offers some intriguing contrasts (beyond gender: a Reed victory could flip the council from majority-women to majority men).
Kristen is the elected city official closest in sensibility to the traditional Sheila Lodge slow-growth Santa Barbara preservationist, while Barrett is a developer, so it will be intriguing to hear from the rivals about their respective visions of future Santa Barbara.
Plus: the money. Sneddon had a perfectly respectable $50,000 in her campaign account at the first reporting deadline a month ago, while Reed had already raised more than $160,000, much it from the real estate industry. As we reported previously:
Four years ago, when Kristen Sneddon was elected to represent District 4, there was a total of 6,298 votes cast for all three candidates in the race, with the incumbent prevailing on 3,237 ballots.
Facebook”s fake Cathy endorsement
Some hands aboard the James Joyce for Mayor juggernaut were shocked, then downright annoyed, to discover on the campaign Facebook page of Cathy Murillo a cheery photo of the incumbent next to Santa Barbara’s favorite former state senator, festooned with these words:
Alerted to this shocker, and mindful that Jackson long ago endorsed James, her longtime aide and one of Cathy’s chief rivals in the mayor’s race, Newsmakers launched an immediate wide-ranging, take-no-prisoners investigation..
Huh? But it’s not dated “as such” — it’s clearly dated, “Cathy Murillo for Mayor 2021,” we wrote back, in a state of spiraling, social media Luddite confusion.
“It was originally posted under a prior election, then I changed the page name to Murillo 2021,” she told us, “The solution is to delete the image so no one mistakes it for current election.”
“Deleted,” she emailed a few moments later.
There were no injuries.
No sense getting riled up over this election. Dems are extremely worried that Elder may actually replace Governor Newsom. Vote how you want to vote, but spending your life hating those who disagree with you is not worth it. If Elder wins, so be it, and may we all find peace inside and get along with all our brothers and sisters. Besides, change is good….think of it as a “teaching moment.” Life is good.
Larry sure does have a number of outer edge white Republicans following him. Seeing that his platform is racist, misogynist, anti-science, homophobic/transphobic – and he checks the boxes in all other fire brand topics – it’s of no surprise who is supporting him and why. It really surprised me that the Republicans didn’t put in very basic effort to find a better and more moderate candidate to run.
He’s a talk show host. Which is why old, uneducated white people like him. They’re the only ones listening to AM radio…or watching Fox/NewsMax/OAN. Not only does he have zero practical experience. No executive, no legislative, no public service. None. He’s never managed anything or anyone beyond his small talk show… Which to be truthful, produced a mediocre career at best. While his contemporaries were minting millions with syndication, he stayed a regional hack. Never breaking out of his small audience. His terrible career management aside, the saddest part of this whole charade is just how awful a person Elder is…
Elder is a lawyer. Newsom was a restaurant-bar owner trading on family political connections to. the SF Pelosi crowd. Take your pick who you want running things in this state. The Sage Out of Compton who bootstrapped himself up in life. Or one who fed off the proverbial silver spoon all his life. Elder has hit a very responsive chord in this state – he proves America can and doe still work for anyone who applies themselves; not just those born to inside privilege. That is a powerful message to re-own.
With luck, voters will have learned the dangers of electing a demagogic nincompoop from the trump fiasco, and realize that getting out and voting against fools is important.
He “hit all the right notes”? Like saying he’s ready to file lawsuits over the outcome because “they’re gonna cheat, we know that.” ?!?!
Elder said:
“We have lawyers ready to file lawsuits … they’re gonna cheat, we know that.”
https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1435757313902592004
So anti-democratic, so Trumpian.
Please vote no!
I saw our local libertarian doctor in the crowd. He is some strange dude. He has fought and complained about taxes and our medical system for decades. He had traveled down from Lompoc. I am sure many others that stand on our street corners with their flags wrapped around their bodies were there also. Larry Elder once said he was the ‘black face of white supremacy’. Buried just below the surface of some of those waving flags and signs at that rally are dangerous racist and anti-democracy beliefs. A comfortable crowd for Elder. The homeless in LA didn’t give him the same reception just a few hours earlier. Mike Stoker? Lifelong crook and loser. Vote no on the recall.
@FITZ- you are showing a perfect example of MEDIA brainwashing…That quote about the “black face of white supremacy” was what an LA TIMES reporter said of Elder… Clue in.
So I thought the rally was quite nice. I was there for one reason and that was to hear what he had to say. I have not voted yet and unlike some people I actually vote on what people have to say. Not what party they belong to. I know many people who are Democrats voting to get rid of Newsome. I was very disappointed yesterday on the rudeness of those for Newsome. People running through out the crowd pushing I phones in faces of people taking pictures of all that were there. When asked to stop some very intense language was used. No one attending this rally was causing any trouble. This is a really big problem to me.everyone should be able to believe what they want. A lot of undecided people were there.
Oh Byz, Gavin was fostered by the Getty family, not the Pelosi family. He has some interesting cross overs though. For instance his ex wife is now Don Jr’s gal. The cra cra screamer, Kimberly Gilfoyle… The rest of your post however, reads like a stooge. But the question is which one? Larry’s the candidate, so is it Curly or Moe? I’ll go with Curly, he was the dumb one…Take 5min a read a Wikipedia page before you spout off. You won’t come across as such a Stooge.
And maskless… as our covid numbers have finally started to stabilize how will this impact our local rates and hospitalizations? 800-1000 people cheering him on and spewing their germs all over each other.
COAST – curious what he plans to do about the “School closures last year?”
I am no fan of Cathy but it is not clear to me based on the evidence provided that Jerry Roberts knows how to use Facebook. None of the evidence shows that Cathy posted the HBJ photo in 2021 (I am not denying she did, but this evidence does not show it), and it is disingenuous to accuse her of such if all she did was change the title of her page to “Cathy for Mayor 2021” which made the author *think* it was dated from the present. There are no lying eyes. What I see is a photo with no date on it with ascribed authorship to the account holder “Cathy Murillo for Mayor 2021.” Jerry needs to drop this charge, or show the receipts he should have to prove Cathy posted the photo in 2021. It’s bad journalism to claim something he actually shows us no proof of, and I’m sure Cathy felt gaslit by this and wanted to say “learn how to use Facebook” but instead just had to delete it in order not to seem ornery. This is a special form of gaslighting when incompetent people force others into a position they don’t belong in and demand they defend themselves against something they never did. If Jerry is a good journalist, he should have no problem owning up to his own misunderstanding, or if it was not a misunderstanding, then he should provide readers with proof Cathy posted the photo in 2021. I rest my case.
Byz: I’m not disagreeing with you on the fumbles Newsom has made. But the recall is a two-part question. There are zero sensible alternatives NL it’s very revealing that an obscure AM radio host is the undisputed front runner. Why didn’t the GOP just pick a moderate fiscal conservative? Someone like Schwarzenegger would win in a landslide. Instead they got an Uncle Tom shock jock with zero experience and zero staying power even if he does get in and runs again in a year.
Your argument in favor of him is also dubious right off the bat. A supermajority can override vetoes, they teach that in high school civics class. I don’t really know what you mean by writing checks to unions. Maybe in your conception of government (shared by Trump) it’s like medieval England and the executive just shovels money to allies and delegates tasks and titles to his relatives and friends. If you mean highway and infrastructure contracting, that’s up the the legislature. As for the audits, I agree. The $31 billion in unemployment fraud was unacceptable. Even though it was not done personally by Newsom as you misleadingly imply, he’s responsible for the EDD state agency. But a loser radio host doing complex audits is laughable, as is the entire prospect of getting a better executive from this joke of a recall election.
Vote him out!
FREEDUMB!
I was at the rally. A lot of happy Larry fans and some angry Gavin Sheep.
Happy Larry fans who wish to live and die as medieval serfs.
I’m slightly shocked that more people than I expected showed up to the Elder rally. Altho looking at the second photo I’m less shocked, all white people.
Elder is insane, people will support any nut job these days.
“Elder had argued in another interview that slave holders should receive reparations “because slavery was legal and their property had been taken…” WHAT?!?!
He also said women who get pregnant while employed should not be allowed to get their job back because they’re not as committed, that women aren’t as smart or informed as men and don’t make good leaders, AND that a lot of women claiming sexual harassment are simply too ugly to be harassed.
WELL DONE GOP! Another winner!
For the small minded simpletons that make up the edges of the American Conservative movement these days, the primary qualification for becoming an elected representative is fame. Usually talk show hosts and television personalities. The intellectual traps that form the American Conservative’s ideology, leaves little room for expansion of ideas. Instead, like moths they are attracted to the brightest bulb and loudest chirps and will stubbornly fly straight towards their demise without a clue as to why… So, Elder…
Actually, a lot of angry, nasty Larry fans screaming at the ‘no on recall’ folks
Too bad you did not attend the Yes on Recall Rally – great enthusiasm for Elder in this county. Nice Elder hit piece, Roberts. You could have done better. You could have tried to understand his wide appeal up and down this state.
No problem, anyone who Taxin Jackson endorses, now or in the past, is reason enough not to vote for that person.
10:06: Are you shocked at the numbers of white people supporting a black conservative, or are you finally past the color line and judging people by their characters and not the color of their skin? Elder was warm, funny, engaging and hit all the right notes. No wonder he is universally popular across this state and his radio program has wide audience. He is very open and accessible, so tainted media hit pieces roll off him and his supporters. He is smart, does his homework, has a deep confidence that can only be earned on the front lines, and does not get rattled when the media continues to abuse him and intentionally distort his positions – in fact, he knows how to take their softball pitches and hit them out of the park . The state is lucky to have someone with his openness, skills and character running at this critical time. If you want to get out of this one-party supermajority state of dysfunction, do takes a good long look at Larry Elder and do vote yes on the recall. This state can do a lot better than its past 20 years of one-party majority rule.
Face it, Democrats want a public sector union friend sitting in Sacramento or in DelaGuerra Plaza, signing their paychecks and handing our their perks and pensions. Consequently, Democrats will say or do anything to keep this tax payer cash flow happening. Anything a Democrat says must be viewed through this filter. Then look for the truth somewhere else.
I don’t understand the endgame for the pro-recall folks. Best case scenario for them, they elect Elder from the freak show of 40+ Newsom alternatives. Then what? He limps along for a year until the next election making gaffes, driving COVID cases up with ignorance, and being blocked from any substantive action by the Dem legislature and courts. I halfway hope he gets in to teach both parties a lesson: the Dems to not take their voters for granted and the GOP to show them how hard governing CA is when they’re not whining from the peanut gallery.
Putting governor veto brakes on the extremes of the Democrat super-majority legislation is victory enough, for the first round. Governing is hard. Writing taxpayer checks to the large public sector unions is what is easy. People finally caught on they are simply not getting value for their tax dollar investments in this state – K-12 being the most obvious example. This matters. A new chief executive officer who asks for audits and accountability for all state programs and bond issue commitments is a huge good start. How did Newsom lose track of $31 billion dollars in “covid relief” funds just last year? Voters want answers. And they want them now. And Newsom is not even hearing them. So Newsom has to go out now – we can’t afford losing $31 billion dollars next year too. I sense you are not keeping up with current events in this state if you are still wondering about the value of this recall right now.
If Elder “hit all the right notes,” you must like a very different kind of music than I do. Listen to the disrespect he has for his fellow humans. He’s no conservative, he’s more of a shock-jock, seeking attention in the worst ways.
The YES on RECALL and ELDER Rally was a huge success- Anywhere from 800-1000 people were at the Sunken Garden to listen to Elder’s platform on why he is running… He hit everything from housing / building restrictions in CA, Homeless, Increase in Crime, Race relations, Gas taxes, Small business SHUTDOWNS, School closures last year, COVID mandates and more… The option is keeping Multi-Millionaire -Elitist- Nancy Pelosi’s-silver spoon Nephew or someone who’s actually CLUED-IN…
Ignorant nutcases spreading delta.
I went back and found that you are correct. The quote was first used by a leader of the Black Lives movement who once had been a friend of Elder’s. But Elder, when asked about it on Fox, seemed pretty blithe and just went on demeaning the ‘left’. In re-reading the entire piece, I learned even more about Larry Elder and his pandering to his radio base, white conservatives. I found his use of dog barking when quoting Maxine Waters pretty offensive…but that seems to be his modus operandi. Surely, the Republicans could have found a less provocative candidate to support. they had 40 choices.
what does skin color have to do with this??? just stop.
alot of them are not from SB or even SB county. Many of them are from LA/ VTA/SLO counties and neighboring cities.
Looks about white.
@Zero, because it’s part of it and is very telling.
“White voters have consistently accounted for a much larger share of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters than of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters (81% vs. 59% as of 2019).”
a-1631221987
I thought he was quoting Hilary??
Ahhh but one HAS to wonder, if not for Jerry, love him or hate him, WHO would have ever called this out, this behavior of Cathy? Unbeknownst to you, it took multiple calls / texts for Cathy to address, nevermind remove, this post.
Had it been not made public, who knows how long it would have been left out there? And Hannah-Beth has a huge following of her own, and this mayor has a habit of surviving based off of endorsements of established prominent Dem women.
Good on Jerry to call it out.