Fix This October Surprise

Last year I worked for the Clinton campaign in New Hampshire. We watched in horror as the October Surprise from then-FBI director James Comey helped usher in a Trump presidency. I ask, if you could go back in time to one year ago, wouldn’t you do anything in your power to change the election outcome?

Santa Barbara now faces an identical situation, less than two weeks from our city election, with an anti-immigration, climate-denier running against three liberal candidates. A recent poll shows that the only candidate with a shot at beating him is Cathy Murillo.

But two weeks before this pivotal election, we were delivered an October Surprise of our own by our dearly beloved Independent! At a time when we need to be rallying behind the front-runner, the Indy is contributing to his victory by splitting the liberal vote, backing the wrong horse in this crucial race. As a community organizer active in Santa Barbara for 24 years, I am disappointed in the Independent‘s failure to rally behind Murillo. This is the time for unity in the face of someone who threatens our values.

This is your time machine, Santa Barbara. If you haven’t voted yet, please vote for Cathy Murillo. If you have voted, please volunteer to help Cathy defeat Frank. Share this letter or write your own. We must prevent a Trump supporter from running our city, doing damage to our beautiful environment, and hurting our most vulnerable populations. Your vote matters. This race could come down to a few hundred votes or less. We cannot afford to sprinkle them evenly between these candidates. Remember what you would do if you could go back and change the 2016 outcome? Now pick up your pen and do the one thing that can change the 2017 outcome — vote for Cathy Murillo!