Cross-posted from OB Rag
There’s an unofficial and underground tussle going on right now between the
OB Rag and the Bonnie Dumanis for Mayor Campaign. It is subtle and you have to look literally between the lines.
But it involves vague threats against Doug Porter, our
OB Rag
reporter, who published an article about Dumanis’ “secret” campaign
with a comment referring to an Ocean Beach fundraiser for the District
Attorney on Thursday, September 22nd.
First, Doug wrote his
post
about the lack of public appearances by Dumanis during this segment of
the San Diego mayoral campaign, in fact calling her efforts a
“non-campaign”. Dumanis is refusing to join the other candidates on the
campaign trail, she cancelled her appearance at City College, she passed
up the first mayor debate held on September 17th at Politifest, and is
limiting the appearances she is making, as Doug points out:
Dumanis
appears to be staking her political future on a campaign that seemingly
involves meeting as few actual voters as possible. Unless they have
cash.
And then Porter drops his other shoe with more criticism:
Her public appearances for the coming month include fundraisers, cocktail fundraisers and more fundraisers, including one this Thursday (September 22) in the 4500 block of Del Monte Avenue,
overlooking Ocean Beach. The suggested minimum donation for all these
events is a mere $150. No word on whether there will be drug testing at
the OB event.
Porter had obtained his information from the
Bonnie Dumanis for Mayor website, easily accessible by and to the public.
Doug then cites sources of opposition to the Dumanis for mayor train:
The
Dumanis non-campaign is, in part, dictated by ongoing and very vocal
opposition to her practices as District Attorney regarding medical
marijuana co-ops (actively prosecuting) and domestic violence towards
women (alleged indifference). Opponents aligned with both causes have vowed to actively campaign against her Mayoral bid, ….
And
then a commenter at Doug’s post, who was not happy with how DA Dumanis
has prosecuted recent domestic violence cases, wrote:
…
Thanks for the info on Bonnie in OB on Thursday night. Maybe a few NOT
DUMANIS friends can get together with our bullhorns, signs, and James
Gang NOT DUMANIS T-shirts to have a little fun? God Bless the OB Rag!
And Doug responded:
gosh, what a grand idea to welcome Bonnie to OB. here’s the link to the invitation. http://goo.gl/Q8rzd
Again,
all Doug did, was copy the link from the “Event” page of the Dumanis
for Mayor website. The link went to the invite published below.
And then the proverbial – using the vernacular – “shit hit the fan.”
A
couple of things happened: someone named “Ashley” left a comment to
Doug’s post alleging that she was posting his home address, as a sort of
seemingly retaliatory measure to get back at him for posting the
location of Thursday’s fundraiser. Well, first of all, it was an
incorrect address for Doug – and we have to apologize to whomever’s
address it really was – it has since been removed.
And then more.
Thursday night’s fundraiser in Ocean Beach is being hosted by a number
of people, including an OB resident Kelly Spoon. We have found out that
“Ashley” appears to be related to the Spoons.
Kelly Spoon – who apparently works for high-powered lawyer and Democrat Lynn Schenk – fired off an email to the
OB Rag vaguely asserting that we had posted :
“information
on your site that directly effects the safety of personal property and
individuals. I request that you take it down immediately.”
In
a reply email to Spoon, we asked what information she was referring
to. And she answered that we had listed the block number for the
fundraiser, and that block only had 7 houses on it, implying that it
would not be difficult to find. (We checked – the block has at least 14
residences on it – many McMansions.)
Meanwhile, sometime during the evening of September 20th, while Doug was at an
OB Rag meeting, Kelly Spoon left this threat on facebook:
Kelly Spoon
Mr.
Porter, You have personal [sic] created a situation that could cause
harm to my families property and/or physical person. Your style of
journalism is completely unprofessional and I will talk to everyone I
know about it.
Now, granted this is a vague threat against
Doug. Yet it’s a threat by the executive assistant to a well-known
Democrat (turn-coat?) about his supposed unprofessional style of
journalism, and that she “will talk to everyone [she] know[s] about
it.” Presumably, this means her boss as well. And Lynn Schenk, her
boss, does know a lot of influential people. She was a member of
Congress, worked for Gov. Davis, and staged an unsuccessful run for the
state Attorney General. So, the vague threat has some weight behind it.
Early
this morning, a commenter – wanting to assure everyone that no
“violence” at the fundraiser was being contemplated – left this:
Sorry to see Doug get embroiled in all this drama about addresses. I
would like to assure everyone that if a few ND [No on Dumanis]
protesters do go over there, we promise to conduct ourselves with the
utmost of care. We promise not to wave picket signs right in people’s
faces, keep our yelling to a friendly level, & not call anyone there
a “WHORE” unless Bill “Whore” Gore shows up. I am so looking forward to
debuting my new James Gang NOT DUMANIS T-shirt at this event.
This
is a residential area and I grew up on that hill right around the
corner. I am sorry to see that the neighborhood has changed so much in
the wrong direction. This address is a McMansion- an ugly house built
out to the very edges of the property line but it does have a lovely,
unobstructed view of the Pacific. If Bonnie does still show up, and the
protesters remain on the public sidewalk, without creating too much of a
noise disturbance – we are well within our rights to protest this evil,
wicked woman supping in Ocean Beach with misguided hosts. The
homeowners SHOULD be ashamed that they have the temerity to invite DIRTY
DUMANIS into the good karma, bohemian enclave of Ocean Beach-home of
DOUBTLESSLY many medical marijuana patients.
The
OB Rag Legal Department responded to Kelly Spoon’s last email:
Nothing
in Doug Porter’s post or in the subsequent comments was “private”
information. The address, location and time of the Dumanis fundraiser is
clearly accessible to and by the public on her website. If you have
any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Spoon answered:
… I am co-hosting the event and a friend of Ms. Dumanis. The event is not on the website of the campaign and if it was it was put there by mistake and has since been removed.
This is a PRIVATE event my family has been a living in the community of
Ocean Beach for over 20 years and has always been a strong community
advocate. We shop local businesses we promote to our friends in San
Diego how wonderful it is to live in Ocean Beach and to come visit. As a
community neighbor it would have been gracious of your reporter to
contact us to see if blogging our address was okay with us. I would like
the line in the article removed about the specific block if at all
possible. Thank you for all your prompt responses. I am a reader of your
Rag. So you can label me as an uppity woman.
While we appreciate Spoon’s backhanded endorsement of the
Rag
and of Ocean Beach, we still have to say that Porter originally
obtained all his info off the Dumanis website – which at the time – was
clearly accessible by anyone.
But we did go once more to the
Dumanis website, and sure enough, ALL the addresses of the private
residential fundraisers for Dumanis had been removed. A couple to be
held at restaurants still had addresses. The remaining information on
the different “invites” clearly had the addresses lifted – as the blank
space attested to this last minute “editing”. The invite page to the OB
fundraiser was missing in its entirety.
So, we are on the edge of
a new segment of the Dumanis for Mayor Campaign, the stealth segment
where now even information about her appearances at fundraisers is being
limited, so the public doesn’t get to see her at all.
Question:
Do the people, the voters, of a community have a right to know who is
holding a fundraiser within their community for a politician – who is
not well liked by many in that community – who is running for public
office but who is at the same time avoiding the very public she purports
to serve?
by Frank Gormlie
