Secord Attacks

by Nick Welsh

After barely snagging the most votes in the June primary, 2nd
District supervisorial candidate Dan Secord is taking the offensive
against candidate Janet Wolf, his opponent in the November run-off.
Secord accused Wolf of accepting campaign donations funneled
through third-party sources like Congressmember Lois Capps and 1st
District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, obscuring — “Some would say
‘laundered,’” Secord said — from the public the identities of the
original donors. Capps donated roughly $17,000 to Wolf, and
Carbajal $18,000. Secord challenged Wolf to adopt a voluntary
policy of listing campaign donations every week — rather than every
three months — and to list all the donors of other elected
officials who, in turn, donated to Wolf. Wolf dismissed Secord’s
suggestion as “diversion and a distraction,” and responded to the
suggestion of money laundering, countering, “That’s insulting.”
Wolf said she’s strictly adhering to all existing campaign finance
reporting laws, and said she had no interest in Secord’s
suggestion. “If Dan took $7,000 from the Board of Realtors, should
he be required to list everyone who gave money to the realtors?”
she asked. “That makes no sense.” Wolf speculated that Secord is on
the attack at a time when most voters are still recovering from
“election fatigue” because he was startled by how strongly she
performed in the June primary. As the sole Republican facing a
field of three Democrats — in what’s nominally a non-partisan race
— Secord was expected to beat the competition by a more sizable
margin. According to the final tally — released late last week —
Secord beat Wolf by just 51 votes.