This week, Clallam County Watchdog is on a temporary hiatus while volunteering at the Jake Seegers for Commissioner booth at the Clallam County Fair. Stop by today through Sunday and say hi to Jake and Jeff near the Yellow Gate (West Entrance). In the meantime, enjoy this short article that clearly highlights the difference between the two commissioner races.
Jim Stoffer updated his Facebook profile picture this week.
In it, he is holding a container of salsa and wearing a pin on his shirt that reads “We Are Salsa Picante.”
Salsa Picante is the anonymous blog that has falsely claimed my husband and I have an open relationship with young Latino men whom we pay for sex. The blog published AI-generated text messages to “substantiate” the lie.
The blog has depicted me in multiple cartoons being walked on a leash by Jake Seegers.
It has accused Jake of being a negligent father and a drug user.
Claims that apparently led to sidewalk-chalk messages in front of Field Hall earlier this week.
Salsa Picante has labeled a small business in Beaver as a drug-distribution hub and continues to generate falsehoods about Jake, me, and many of his prominent supporters—going so far as to publish their home addresses.
Do you know who Salsa Picante is? The CC Watchdog community is now offering a $1,250 reward to the person who accurately identifies the anonymous blogger.
Who is Jim Stoffer to Mike French? He is the individual Mike French has chosen to prominently feature on his “endorsement” page.
Stoffer is a former school board member who was nearly censured and resigned mid-term amid controversy over leaking personal information to the public. He is also a former charter review commissioner who was caught leaking attorney-client privileged information to a tribal ambassador.
Now French’s key endorser is promoting a hate blog that attacks French’s opponent daily—not on issues or policy positions, but on Jake’s wife’s career as an ER doctor, on Jake’s decision to cut back on work and serve as his children’s primary educator, and on the value of the home Jake and his family rent while they save to build their own.
That is the difference between these two campaigns and these two candidates. Jake and his supporters continue to focus on issues and failed policies. Mike French remains largely silent while his supporters attack, defame, and slander his opponent.
The approaches are polar opposites. In 75 days, voters will decide which one works.
A Challenge to French Supporters
There’s another clear difference between the candidates.
One supports property destruction.
The other is increasingly the victim of it.
Here is a challenge to every Mike French supporter: Instead of bashing Jake—or stealing, slashing, and spray-painting his signs—use these final two and a half months of the race to promote Mike French’s record.
Tell us how he has made our communities safer over the past four years.
Tell us how he has made our county more affordable.
Tell us how he has better protected our ecologically sensitive areas.
Share his concrete accomplishments and explain why voters should choose him.
That is the challenge.