Yuba City council candidate slammed for tactics

Tactics and falsehoods by Yuba City City Council candidate Rick Walsh have reached levels that could compromise the outcome of the Nov. 6 election, contends an open letter signed by the three other candidates.

"His campaign has been beset with twisted information that wrongly discredits other candidates," the letter reads in part. "Our concerns are not confined to incidental distortions of facts, but extend overall to Walsh's deceptive strategy to distract voters from the real issues."

Councilman John Dukes running for re-election, who signed the letter along with candidates Kash Gill and Todd Remund, said Thursday that Walsh's methods won't work with voters.

"The people in our community don't want to see Washington, D.C. politics coming to our city," Dukes said.

If Walsh wins a council seat he'll won't be able to accomplish much, Dukes added.

"If you alienate everyone," Dukes said, "he's going to be working by himself and he's not going to be effective."

The letter, released today, challenges matters Walsh has raised, including delays in building a new animal shelter. A Walsh mailer states that "John Dukes and Kash Gill can't even build an animal shelter. How can they lead our city?"

"$6 million, 8 years, still no solution," Walsh's mailer asserts.

Walsh, asked about the challenge by the trio of candidates, said "I'm serious about running."

"I'm serious about telling the truth," Walsh said. "If they don't want to hear the truth I don't know what to do."

Yuba City lacks leadership, he said.

"If we're going to talk leadership, we're going to have to talk about the what they've done," Walsh added.

He said Gill spoke about the animal shelter as a Taj Mahal and soured the relationship between Yuba City and Sutter County, the two agencies involved in the building. Dukes referred to the pact between the city and county as a bad marriage, Walsh said.

"They can't get along with the county," Walsh said of Dukes and Gill.

Walsh said of the assertion that as a city councilman he has to get along with other council members, "That's true. And they have to get along with me too."

Dukes said $6 million has not been spent on the animal shelter, that his and Gill's involvement began in March 2009 and that Yuba City has led on the issue.

"The shelter is moving forward. So we do have a solution," Dukes saidGil said his council term ended in 2010 and that he served a single year on the animal control committee.

Gill said Thursday that voters deserve facts and that because Walsh lacks issues he is making a desperate, negative run for the City Council.

"That's what his campaign has been from day one," Gill said. "It's unfortunate that Walsh has stooped so low."

"Everything has been an outright lie," Gill added.

Gill, who has lived in Yuba City for 47 years, said he had never seen the type of negative campaign Walsh is running until this election.

"If a candidate cannot speak the truth," Gill said, "how are they going to be honest with the voters if they're elected?"

Candidate Remund said Walsh's mailer, questioning how men who can't build an animal shelter can lead Yuba City, surprised him.

"It's definitely not a flier I would have anything to do with," Remund said. "I was fairly shocked by it."

"I know for a fact that it's not accurate," Remund said. "It was definitely very deceptive."

The four candidates are running for two seats on the council. Dr. Larry Ozeran announced Oct. 10 that he was withdrawing from the election because of the demands of work with a start-up company that he said has swallowed up all his time, though his name will still be on the ballot.