By KAREN VELIE
The gloves are off in San Luis Obispo County’s District 2 supervisor race. Negative Bruce Gibson ads are flooding the airways and filling up mailboxes, with the county’s top prosecutor putting in $25,000 in an attempt to boot Gibson from office.
Incumbent Supervisor Gibson is battling Dr. Bruce Jones for the District 2 supervisor seat.
In the latest round, Gibson threw the first punch with a negative flyer suggesting Jones is a Trumper and dishonest. The flyer, which includes a photo of Trump, accuses Jones of putting out false information about Gibson’s views on Prop 13. The flier also accuses Jones of not knowing how government works.
A group of Jones supporters then donated nearly $90,000 to two PAC’s that oppose Gibson’s reelection.
Ads detailing Gibson’s votes to cut the sheriff’s department budget by nearly $1 million, not to fund additional deputies and against a new sheriff’s substation are flooding the online advertising market. The ads, funded by a pro-law enforcement PAC, Back the Badge, ask viewers to vote Gibson out of office because he is “against our local cops.”
Last week, SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow donated $25,000 to Back the Badge from his Dan Dow for District Attorney 2022 campaign account, which then spent $30,000 on online ads asking people not to vote for Gibson.
“I support electing candidates who support law enforcement and who make neighborhood safety a top priority,” Dow said.
District 2 voters recently received mailers depicting Gibson as former supervisor Adam Hill’s puppetmaster. The ads describe how Gibson paid “the right-hand man of Helios Dayspring, who repeatedly bribed Adam Hill, to help with his reelection campaign.”
The mailers came courtesy of the Safer SLO County PAC, a committee started by North County resident and retired firefighter, Greg Grewal.
“After speaking at the Board of Supervisors for over 10 years – and seeing first hand the rude behavior, threats and demeaning outbursts – it’s time for Bruce Gibson to go,” Grewal said. “He doesn’t know what being a public servant means.”