A political action committee, the Safe Neighborhoods Coalition, has apparently entered the supervisors race, pushing advertising for Jim Provenza in support of his re-election campaign. The group appears linked to a Yolo County Deputy DA and has put forward ads primarily on Facebook—though they have yet to file an independent expenditure report, so it is difficult to know how much they have spent.
Among the issues they appear to champion is opposition to Prop. 47, which was passed by the voters and has reduced crimes like simple drug possession and petty theft to misdemeanors.
In reaching the three-term supervisor, Jim Provenza, by email, the Vanguard learned he had been unaware of the effort on his behalf and has not taken a public position on Prop. 47.
According to the group’s mission statement: “Safe Neighborhoods Coalition is an organization made up of community members, business owners and civic leaders who care about the safety, prosperity, and future of the places we live, work and raise our families. We believe that our neighborhoods should be places where we can be free from the worry and negative impacts of crime. We believe local policies should look to improve the quality of life for residents by making public safety a top priority. We believe that when there is a focus on these principles, our communities thrive and grow.”
They claim to advance their mission in two ways:
“By supporting local elected leaders who share our concerns and advocate for approaches that keep us safe.
“By supporting policies, programs and organizations that enhance public safety.”
Independent expenditures must be reported if they exceed $1000.
By one count, “There have been at least ten separate ads. No idea how much they cost.”
To date, none of these contributions have been reported. Looking on the Secretary of State site, there are none reported as well—although the PAC is registered with an FPPC number of 1422258.
The PAC is headed by Matthew DeMoura, who also happens to be a Yolo County Deputy DA.
On their Facebook page there are quite a few posts that have been made in opposition to Prop. 47
A written caption by the administrator of the Facebook page, as the graphic shows, reads: “Dr. Drew Pinsky has been treating addiction and mental illness for years. Listen to his view… Many local leaders endorsed Prop 47. Did yours? What are they doing to fix it? #Prop47“
The article is entitled: “Prop 47 is murder.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
From a post I made November 3,2019:
“Perhaps as this campaign gets closer to Election Day we will see more about the issues and fewer guilt by association hit pieces. I’m hopeful but I’m doubtful. This is the second time David has published a piece like this. Any bets on how many more by Election Day? My guess with four months to go is at least ten.”
I think we are at five down and five to go. Obviously my desire to focus on the issues was wishful thinking. While another local blog recently took Deos to task for being all over the place on Measure R, the Vanguard is still rampaging against anything remotely connected to the DA’s office. One question David, what does a Yolo County Supervisor have to do with Prop 47?
The group ran an IE campaign for Provenza
We also covered two candidate forums pretty thoroughly in case you missed them.
Obviously you and people in the DA’s office have different concerns about Prop 47 but just to be clear I’ll ask it again. What does a Yolo County Supervisor have to do with Prop 47?
It’s background on the question of who this group is that has decided to run an IE campaign in the Supervisors race.
Background = nothing
If a picture is worth a thousand words perhaps a campaign photo with the Moyle’s should be worth a thousand votes.
From his UC Davis Webpage:
Peter Moyle is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, UC Davis.
So Provenza has support of the Moyle’s and the Farm Bureau. Quite an accomplishment.
I find it weird that Provenza is likely to win by a huge margin and yet his supporters get very defensive if an article is even mildly critical. This one is really about the PAC not the candidate
Don’t count the votes early. Run hard.
The Vanguard has consistently tried to tarnish Provenza throughout the campaign by linking him to the DA. In fact, my running count is five articles, and, I’ve called out each one. Deos’ supporters have tried the same line of attack but it seems they have backed off probably because it created a backlash. As the Vanguard persists people like myself ,who know and respect Provenza, will continue to respond.
Can you show me what here has tarnished Provenza – particularly in light of the fact that he’s a pretty safe incumbent. I see this more – if anything – trying to tarnish Reisig’s. Provenza’s response was – I have nothing to do with this and I haven’t even taken a position on Prop 47. You just seem overly sentive to this and that’s the part I don’t get.
Safe Neighborhoods hasn’t reached the $1000 expenditure threshold. They spent $104 on the ad in question and $$208 total. Probably two $104 ads in total.