The war of words is heating up in the race for north county supervisor.
In an e-mail sent to her supporters, Debora Fudge accused her opponent Mike McGuire of being a “Junior Paul Kelley,” because he has some of the same “deep-pocketed special interests that have backed Republican Supervisor Paul Kelley for so long.”
On Monday, Fudge identified those special interests as the Sonoma County Alliance and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.
“It was mainly to bring the point out that if people are looking for change and representing the Fourth District better, they’d better look carefully at both candidates,” Fudge said of the e-mail, which was sent out last week to solicit contributions.
The subject matter of Fudge’s e-mail was “we’re beating the special interests.”
But McGuire perceived it as a “political attack.”
“This type of divisive message is everything that is wrong with politics today,” he said, adding that Fudge had sought the endorsements of the same groups.
“She had the same interview I did with the Alliance and the Farm Bureau,” he said.
Fudge acknowledged she would have accepted the support of both organizations. But she said “I did not sing a different song just to get their endorsement.”
The two candidates are running in the June election for the seat held by longtime supervisor Kelley, who decided not to seek re-election.
McGuire, 30, is on the Healdsburg City Council and Fudge, 53, serves on the Windsor Town Council. Both hopefuls have staked out similar positions on the issues, whether it be environmental, labor or law enforcement topics.
— Clark Mason
