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SLO County District Attorney Dow is a warrior for justice, Tribune rebuttal

November 6, 2022

District Attorney Dan Dow

Opinion by San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow

Sadly, over the last decade issues of community safety have increasingly exposed the stark differences of world view between political conservatives and political “progressives.”

Progressive politics have brought us initiatives like Proposition 47 and 57 and have created the undeniable crime surge in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and across the state. The failed policies in those regions implemented by Los Angeles district attorney George Gascon and recently recalled San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin are now being rejected by a majority of California voters.

As your San Luis Obispo County district attorney, I care deeply about our safety and about the support and care of victims of crime across our county.  And I care deeply enough to stand up and speak out when I believe I should.

Sadly, the national trend of decriminalization and reducing accountability for offenders has crept into our county board of supervisors. Supervisor Bruce Gibson tries to appear as supporting public safety, although in reality he has shown he is more interested in using public safety as a political weapon against other supervisors who are in the conservative camp that he disdains.

Here are two specific examples:

In Jan. 2017,* Supervisor Gibson voted with Adam Hill to oppose the creation of a new sheriff’s substation in Nipomo that would decrease response times to assist citizens in south county. The “progressive” supervisors voted against the substation because they were political opponents of Supervisor Lynn Compton and didn’t want her to succeed politically in advocating for her district.

Similarly, in June of 2017,* Supervisor Gibson again opposed and voted against the addition of two sheriff’s deputies to serve rural north county communities of Shandon and San Miguel. The deputies were clearly needed to reduce the lengthy response times.

Yet again, Gibson and Hill played politics and voted no because they were politically opposed to the newly elected Supervisor John Peschong who represented that area. They couldn’t stand to see a newly elected conservative supervisor succeed in advocating for his constituents.

Each of these votes display supervisor Gibson’s partisan approach to public safety: if it helps my political opponents on the board, then community safety be damned.

Since I was elected in 2014, I have invited Supervisor Gibson to meet and tour the District Attorney’s Office. Gibson has refused repeatedly.

He stated, “I saw it under your predecessor, I don’t need to see it again.”

I have invited him to meet and discuss safety issues and he has refused. Instead, he has repeatedly attacked me publicly. Recently, he cited my “extreme” views on the First Amendment of the United States Constitution because I refused to prosecute people for singing in church. He apparently supports government interference with how one practices their faith in a house of worship. (By the way, the United States Supreme Court agreed that California’s order restricting worship during the pandemic was unconstitutional.)*

Finally, at times over the past eight years, Gibson has taken personal potshots against both Sheriff  Ian Parkinson and me at public Board of Supervisors meetings. He has tried to embarrass us and has attempted to lecture us with his ‘progressive’ ideas.

Gibson can’t wait to get a progressive majority on the board so that he can continue his fight as a warrior for the progressive left.

I’m proud to be a warrior for justice and truth and law enforcement. If I stood by and did nothing in this election, if I didn’t stand up for what I believe in, then I would have myself to blame for being a political coward.

I strongly endorse and urge District 2 voters to vote for Dr. Bruce Jones.


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Wow “District Attorney Dow is a warrior for justice” says District Attorney Dow. Nice self-serving arrogance there.


This is prime hypocrisy. The far right has accused the US Justice Department of being political when they enforce established laws against Trυmр (some, like the strengthening the rules about classified material, Trυmр himself enacted), yet here we have a local justice official taking a public and divisive political stance against another public servant, but not for any proven law breaking, but simply because they don’t agree with some of their opinions and decisions.


So would all of you who support Dow’s actions here also support if FBI Director Christopher Wrey or Attorney General Merrick Garland solicited donor money and used it to pay for political ads against Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene because they called for defunding the FBI, which would clearly make the AG and FBI director’s jobs much harder to perform?


Or is it just fine for a local DA to be a blatant political operative, but not for an Attorney General to do the same simply because you align yourself with the viewpoints of the former and not the latter?


-4

Just because he sits behind a door with a District Attorney sign on it doesn’t mean Dow can’t lie like the best of them. He was trained to do everything in his power to protect his client. In this case he sees his client as the Republican majority on the board, so he’s not only financing the misinformation campaign, but is whipping up his own version here.


-9

A view from the inside we best not ignore. Bruce Gibson is a poser; a fraud.


14

Despite Mr. Dow’s condemnation of “progressive politics,” I wonder why it is that the highest crime rates in the state came in areas controlled by “political conservatives.” According to the LA Times, “The biggest risks for homicides came in conservative counties with iron-fist sheriffs and district attorneys, places where progressives in power are nearly as common as monkeys riding unicorns.”


https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-26/column-violent-crime-is-up-in-california-where-it-rose-the-most-may-surprise-you?_amp=true


While I believe Gibson should go, this guy Jones is simply a puppet for Mr. Dow and Ms. Arnold. The biggest problem in this county is homelessness. I read Mr. Jones “position papers” on the problem and he offers not much more than the “Homekey” program which is already being implemented.


-1

Amen Dan Dow!


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