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SLO Tribune accuses Grover Beach candidate of fraud

November 2, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

Less than a week before the election, the SLO Tribune published both a news article and an editorial accusing Grover Beach mayoral candidate Debbie Peterson of fraud alleging she illicitly applied for discounts on her water bill. The accusation appears to be based on the publication’s failure to understand the difference between household and business income.

There are three people running for the Grover Beach mayor seat: Peterson, Robert Robert and Kassie Dee. The Tribune endorsed Dee while trashing Peterson for writing a book on local corruption – “The Happiest Corruption; Sleaze, Lies, & Suicide in a California Beach Town.”

Tribune reporter Joan Lynch writes that Peterson “appears to have received assistance paying her water and sewer bills despite making more income than is eligible to receive that benefit.” Lynch noted that Peterson has “multiple streams of income,” before estimating Peterson’s gross income.

The discount programs Peterson applied for are based on gross household income or being on other state programs, not gross business income.

Peterson has a vacation rental below her home. In addition, she owns a condo in Hawaii she also rents out as a vacation rental.

In determining Peterson’s vacation rental income, Lynch wrote he reverse calculated using Grover Beach’s 12% transient occupancy tax, though he failed to note San Luis Obispo County tacks on an additional 1.5%. In addition, Lynch did not include moneys paid to VRBO, property managers and cleaners.

As for her real estate business, Lynch did not include operating costs while inflating the amount a broker typically makes on a property. Peterson provided CalCoastNews her business tax return, which rebuts Lynch’s claims.

 


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18 Comments
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Let’s see that tax return please


7

Wow. What a sad existence for The Tribune; scrounging around trying to find a scrap of failure or malfeasance on the part of a small town mayor. Eureka! Possible skulduggery by means of a discount on a water bill! Great investigative reporting, Tribune! Maybe you should also check to see if there are any unpaid library fines by this scoundrel.

What a joke. The Tribune should be embarrassed, but sadly they don’t see the petty, worthless rag they have become. Is it any wonder it is a dwindling waste?


6

So is it different when this website writes an article about a Paso politician with a license plate from a different state?


2

More proof that the Fibune is a useless yellow rag.


12

Tribune reporter Joan Lynch’s published article is seemingly rubbish not worthy of a CCN dumpster dive. The simplest of minds know gross business revenue is just that – revenue before expenses and that Peterson lives in a multi use building. What does this say about the integrity and reliability of the Tribune and Joans reporting and fact checking if they are using Peterson’s gross business revenue and improperly casting it as her personal income (the metric used to determine a discount) to create a fake scandal?


The Tribune and Joan may avoid these facts because if they didn’t, no scandolous hit piece to publish to satisfy their kingmakers. Disgusting conduct which seemingly conforms with the fact suppression and lying expected of corrupt white collar criminal lawyers or govt. officials with their hands in the pot of criminal enterprises. Muckracking or gaslighting with a political agenda at best.


Vote Debbie Peterson Tuesday.


Cancel your Tribune subscription now.


Subscribe to Cal Coast news today.


18

I have no inside info to know what is or is not true regarding this issue. I do know none of us know another person’s financial or personal situation. I can own my home but still be struggling to pay my bills due to life circumstances which might make me ask for financial assistance on a utility bill. The older I get the more clear it becomes to not judge a book by it’s cover or assume you know what someone else is going through.


51

Is the telegram-tribune still around?


33

A facsimile of it is. It’s no longer the ‘Telegram Tribune’, just ‘The Tribune’. And it’s a total leftist propaganda paper which is not even fit to wipe the hynie with, nor to wrap fish in.


40

No one who has ever been in business would ever confuse gross income for net income. There is little or no relationship between them.


41

In the Tribune’s article they asked if Peterson qualified – they did not accuse her of fraud. Big difference. Also- if Peterson would have spoken with reporters instead of declining to comment or be interviewed this question might not have ever been asked. Peterson, like the moms for Liberty backed wanna be book banners school board candidates lacked the courage and integrity to speak with Tribune reporters.


-37

I wouldn’t talk to the press either (particularly that press). A former AG City councilperson once told me “If you don’t want to be misquoted in the press, don’t talk to them.”


31

As for speaking to the Tribune, they got a simple detail wrong in our interview with Dave Congalton. They’re bitter partisans & either incompetent or purposefully deceptive. We and Debbie did the right thing.


As for your opening comment, the FBI only said Hunter’s laptop had all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign, right? They never said it was fake. See how that works?


28

Do you work for the Tribune?


9

Courage and integrity aren’t words I would associate with the Tribune!


25

Thanks for setting the record straight, Karen. If Peterson has been vetted by local agencies and utilities and approved based on tax returns then there’s no case to be made.


36

There’s no vetting when a person initially applies for the CARE Program. PGE takes an individual’s word hat their income falls within the limits necessary to qualify for the program.


-32

I didn’t realize one could get water service from PG&E. Are their rates lower than the City’s?


24

Wrong, Slumber. PG&E requires either proof of approval in another low income program, or a tax return.


30