Supervisorial candidate Rhodesia Ransom and her supporters are calling a mailer that has been landing in some mailboxes in the south county district “misleading.” The flier, sent by supervisorial candidate Bob Elliott targets Democratic voters.
On one side, the mailer has an image of a donkey, the Democratic party mascot with the text: A MESSAGE TO SOUTH COUNTY DEMOCRATS. The flip side includes a letter signed by six individual democrats endorsing Elliott.
The race for District 5 on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors is a nonpartisan race, but both major political parties have weighed in with official endorsements. The county Republican party endorsed Elliott; county Democratic party endorsed Ransom.
But the use of the donkey symbol and the opening of the letter in the recent Elliott mailer that began appearing in mailboxes in the final days before the Tuesday primary election “is a little deceptive,” Ransom said.
“It’s misleading,” said Nicholas Hatten, chair of the San Joaquin County Democratic Central Committee.
Don Parsons, Elliott’s campaign consultant said that Elliott would represent Democrats in the Fifth District as much as he would Republicans.
“All the letter says is that there are Democrats who support Bob Elliott,” Parsons said. “I don’t think there’s anything deceptive about it at all.”
Hatten noted that an earlier slate mailer supported Elliott with a group of prominent Democrats. He said it happens every year, but this year the party is making a more concerted effort to head off this tactic. Over the weekend, the party sent out a “robo call” to Democrats to notify them who the party had officially endorsed.
Here’s the most recent mailer:
