Did SLO County supervisorial candidate launch smear campaign?

February 18, 2026

SLO County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding

By KAREN VELIE

In what appears to be a smear campaign, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding accused his opponent Adam Verdin of violating campaign finance laws after learning the allegation was unfounded.

Tom Fulks, a political consultant who has worked for Paulding, said Verdin violated SLO County’s ordinance limiting campaign donations in a Feb. 12 Facebook post. Fulks accused Verdin of “thumbing his nose at the rules.”

“If his latest campaign finance report is to be believed, Verdin apparently has violated SLO County’s ordinance limiting campaign contributions to $5,900 for campaigns for county offices,” Fulks posted on Facebook. “But if it isn’t an error, who’s going to enforce the election rules here in SLO County? The state Fair Political Practices Commission? Sure, maybe, someday, in a year or three.”

Hours later, Chuck Bell, a retired attorney and Verdin’s commitee chair, set Fulks straight in a Facebook post.

“Fulks is a moron,” Bell wrote. “State law the SLO County Board of Supervisors adopted has long provided that contribution limits apply ‘per election’ with $5,900 for the ‘primary’ election and a separate $5,900 for the ‘general’ election. The contributions were perfectly legal.”

In his Form 460 campaign statement for July 1, 2025 through Jan. 31, 2025, Verdin’s top donation in the report was $11,800 from Covelop Inc., with half directed to the primary and the other half to the general election.

It is not uncommon for a donor to donate to both the primary and general elections.

Paulding, who is an attorney, led the charge to lower the limit in 2023 to lower limits from $25,000 to $5,900 per election.

And even though Bell, a former election law attorney, explained the law, Paulding filed a formal complaint on Feb. 15 with the California Fair Political Practices Commission accusing Verdin of violating the law. Paulding then announced his accusation on Facebook.

“Moments like this require steady, principled leadership at the local level,” Paulding wrote. “If you care about integrity in our elections and believe in transparent, accountable government, stand with our campaign today.”

Even though the law is clear that Verdin did not violate campaign finance laws, Paulding made a complaint that will likely not be addressed by the state until well after the election.

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