A candidate running for supervisor in eastern Madera County named five citizens in campaign mail to voters, stating they are among an opponent’s most vocal “far left” supporters – and labeling two of them as “of the Witches and Warlocks.”
“The flyer has put a target on the back of not only myself, but also my children,” said Kriszti Mendonca, who described herself as a small business owner and community volunteer who ran a nonprofit called the Bass Lake Education Foundation for 10 years.
Mendonca and Sarah Roemer, who was also named by supervisor candidate Mark Reed as “of the Witches and Warlocks,” said they aren’t affiliated with any witch organizations – rather, they just attended a Witches and Warlocks Halloween paddle event at Bass Lake, where people dressed up in Halloween costumes.
Roemer described herself as an Oakhurst citizen who runs a meal and outreach program called Soup 4 Friends.
“I’m concerned by how Mark Reed’s divisive and libelous claims may affect our community efforts,” Roemer said. “I must also be cautious about how this might affect my job and personal life. I’m wondering if I need to fear extremists or zealots inspired to violence by his false claims.”
Roemer stood beside a large protest poster – a painting of a woman being burned at the stake in a witch hunt – during the news conference outside the Hugh Burns State Building in downtown Fresno. The other side of it read, “We will not be bullied into silence.”
In his campaign mailer sent to thousands of voters, Reed also named a founder of an Oakhurst LGBTQ+ group, a member of Yosemite Democrats and a member of the “Democratic Socialists of America Peace & Freedom Party.” (In a statement, that woman referred to the Peace and Freedom Party. Democratic Socialists of America is a separate group.) Reed additionally listed labor union SEIU and Black Lives Matter without providing names of its members.
Loralee Bergdall, who organized the news conference, read statements written by the other three women Reed named. She requested their names not be included in news coverage because they’ve been harassed and are fearful for their safety since Reed singled them out. Bergdall said while many community members agree and identify with the affiliations listed on the mailers, including them as labels on inflammatory campaign flyers in the midst of a polarized local election has created a “very unsafe environment.”
Bergdall, who lives in Oakhurst, said she was horrified when she saw the mailers. She decided to use her experience as co-director of Women’s March Fresno to help defend the five women. Bergdall said it’s unclear why Reed singled them out, and that they want a public apology from him.
Reed is one of three men running for District 5 supervisor in Madera County in the June 7 primary election.
“The irony of this is that this candidate, Mark Reed, all of his opponents are men, and he doesn’t attack them, he attacks women,” said Pam Whalen, an organizing director with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, who spoke during the news conference as a concerned community partner. “This is a campaign of hate, it’s a campaign of targeting women, and calling them out and punishing them for being involved in the political process.”
Reed told The Bee he was referring to candidate Bobby Macaulay when he mentioned “my opponent” on the campaign mailer. Beau Campbell is also running for District 5 supervisor.
“No candidate should attack the residents they are seeking to earn the trust of and represent,” Macaulay wrote in a short statement. “There is no place for any attempts to intimidate voters in today’s political climate regardless of one’s beliefs. It sets a dangerous precedent and erodes election integrity.”
Campbell prepared a long response, which reads, in part, “Every citizen in this county has a duty, right and responsibility to speak out against this type of behavior. Go to the polls and vote with your voices loudly or forever suffer in silence.”
Community members are planning an 11 a.m. Saturday protest on the corner of highways 41 and 49 in Oakhurst to support the women singled out by Reed.
District 5 has traditionally just covered mountain towns in rural eastern Madera County, but its new boundary now extends all the way to the San Joaquin River in the central San Joaquin Valley, just north of northeast Fresno. The district’s longtime incumbent, Tom Wheeler, announced last year that he would retire in 2022 and endorsed Macaulay to take his place as supervisor.
