Some heated rhetoric in congressional campaign

In addition to praise for Mullin’s qualification, all the speakers made remarks that seemed quite pointedly about Canepa, who has spent the early weeks of the campaign raising more than $400,000 and posting short videos of a seemingly unending string of quick stops all over the district.

The recurring words in praise of Mullin: Ethics, integrity and morals. “There is no candidate with greater integrity (than Mullin),” Hill said. “(Mullin) has his head screwed on straight,” Slocum said. “Some elected officials look in the mirror and see a savior,” Berman said. “They are their number one fan.”

And in case the message was subject to misinterpretation, Mullin, in his own remarks, said, “We will reject the politics of cynicism and division and hate that Trumpism has let loose on the body politic, and there is no place for any Trumplike tactics in our Democratic Party. And, make no mistake, the attacks have already started from one of my opponents, who, I expect, will do and say anything to get elected and continue to run a negative campaign.”

This clearly is a reference to an allegation by Canepa that Mullin improperly used funds from his Assembly campaign account to send out two year-end mailers to his legislative constituents. Canepa asserted that the use of funds is a violation of federal campaign laws. Canepa rounded up someone to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission but it looks like something that is going nowhere.

Canepa, meanwhile, continues to espouse nonspecific progressive values, including during a recent appearance with Burlingame Councilmember Emily Beach on the “Your Legal Rights” show on KALW, which you can find here: https://www.kalw.org/show/your-legal-rights.

If recent actions are any indication, this column will be unsatisfactory to Canepa, who has adopted the tactic of complaining that coverage of his campaign, particularly here and in other Daily Journal columns is unfair and slanted toward Mullin. It is true, I have had some fun here at Canepa’s expense, but nothing I have said has been made up — I have relied for more than a year on the candidate’s high-profile activities.

I have disclosed here more than once that Mullin and I co-hosted a cable TV show for several years. Not anymore. And, yes, he is a friend. That should not make any difference in how I cover this race. Heck, Canepa said on KALW, quite accurately, that we have been friends for 20 years. I even offered to help him as an unofficial advisor some years ago, before I returned to a journalism career that spans nearly 40 years.

It is a mistake for any candidate to divide the world solely into friends and enemies and an even greater mistake to base that on whether someone gets positive news coverage. Most candidates get the news coverage they earn.

Meanwhile, Beach keeps plugging away, focused strongly on women’s reproductive rights. This week she held her second virtual text banking session, inviting friends from anywhere to reach out to 15th CD voters.

ITEM-TYPE ITEMS: In a bit of a surprise, Mullin has endorsed Capt. Christina Corpus in her race against incumbent Sheriff Carlos Bolanos. Mullin said he was “impressed by her dynamism and openness to a citizens oversight body to strengthen public confidence in the Sheriff’s Office. I think it’s time for a more public-facing leadership of the department. And there’s a chance to make history with the first Latina sheriff in California history.” ... It’s a bit of a rematch: Former Redwood City Councilmember Shelly Masur and current Mountain View Councilmember Sally Lieber, who both lost a state Senate race in 2020, are running for the state Board of Equalization seat being vacated by Malia Cohen. Lieber, just barely in her second year on the council, wants to hold onto the seat and serve at the same time on the BOE. ... David Pollack was at the Mullin event, gathering signatures for his nomination papers in his challenge to Mark Church, the incumbent chief elections officer and assessor-clerk-recorder. Church has yet to form a campaign committee. ... In the 21st Assembly race, South San Francisco Councilmember James Coleman has closely linked his campaign to a local initiative requiring universal preschool.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.