Opinion: Running for office is not easy, candidate responds to other publication’s article
By Rudy Recile, Retired U.S. Army Major, candidate for Congress, CA District 8
Grassroots candidates running for an office don’t have it easy. People don’t know your name, you have no money in your campaign account and adding insult to injury, depending on what party you are affiliated with, the media may or may not be friendly towards you or your campaign.
Recently an article was written about my campaign “Rematch race for East Bay congressional seat clouded by disinformation from challenger” by Katie Lauer East Bay Times October 30, 2024.
With a title like that would any challenger have a chance? Depending on whether or not the reader keeps up with current events would determine what type of article they are reading. I don’t know if this was an article, opinion statement or hit piece.
I know Rep. John Garamendi has cancer, and I mentioned to the reporter during the interview I wouldn’t disparage the congressman in any way. I wanted to run a clean race and not a smear campaign. Instead of John Garamendi going after me the reporter decided to write an article seemingly attacking me.
All stories have a point of view and there is always some truth in the telling of the story. When I was being interviewed, I didn’t remember all of the details of the current events we were discussing. I was able to get most of the information correct and instead of the reporter doing her due diligence she took the negative side and stated I am passing dis-information.
For example, when hurricane Helene devastated the east coast, I stated the Government was restricting air space and it was in fact happening.
Eventually the restrictions were lifted. The point the reporter emphasized was the lifting of restrictions which means there were restrictions in place. The reporter failed to mention that FEMA and other federal agencies didn’t show up for almost a week after the hurricane and there were many people posting on social media platforms that they were being restricted from flying.
I spoke about a Veteran being evicted to make way for migrants. The reporter found an article where some people acted and reported they were evicted to make way for migrants from a hotel which was found to be a hoax. The article I was referring to was about a New York Army Veteran who was evicted from a nursing home to make way for migrants and not the story she mentioned. https://nypost.com/2023/11/30/news/army-vet-kicked-out-of-nyc-nursing-home-to-make-room-for-migrants/ There are many stories out there she could have chosen but the story she chose to back her story was the one regarding the hoax.
I also mentioned how crime is not being reported based on an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Contrary to Media Myth, U.S. Urban Crime Rates Are Up” – https://www.wsj.com/opinion/contrary-to-media-myth-u-s-urban-crime-rates-are-up-violence-cities-9ce714f6. “National Crime Victim Survey (NVCS) 2023 finds no statistically significant evidence that violent crime or property crime is dropping in America…” NVCS. “In the 2023 NVCS, crime victims conveyed that a majority – 55% of violent victimizations weren’t reported to the police,
while 70% of property crime victimizations weren’t reported.”
Since crime is not being reported as it was in the past the statistics seem to be decreasing. It is so easy to find articles regarding how Prop 47 has affected California. She decided to identify an article which soft plays Prop 47 which I mentioned.
Even with all the negativity the best parts of the article were the parts where she directly quoted my full statement and not just parts of my statements
The bottom line is this, if you’re a grassroots candidate, realize running for office isn’t easy and it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows. If you’re going to vote, do your own due diligence and be an educated voter before you vote. Vote the policies the person supports and not the person or the party.
For more information about me and my campaign visit https://rudyforuscongress.com.
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Rudy Recile 2024
