Dustup between Sonoma County candidates Lynda Hopkins and Noreen Evans over cow manure video

A sharp and salty response by Lynda Hopkins to attacks by her rival, Noreen Evans, has ratcheted up the intensity in an already bitter standoff between the two candidates vying for the only seat up for grabs this November on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Hopkins last week posted on her campaign’s Facebook page a video assailing Evans and her supporters over claims they have made about business groups backing Hopkins’ bid for elected office - her first - and the sources of her campaign cash. As of Saturday, she had raised $310,000, far outpacing Evans’ $199,000 in donations.

Hopkins is shown in the four-minute video kneeling in a grass field surrounded by cow manure and repeatedly calling the attacks from her rival’s camp “bullshit.”

“Before running for office, I never considered myself someone that someone would be afraid of … that people would actually believe that an organic farmer with two degrees in environmental science would want to develop and destroy our beautiful open space. But the bad news is political bullshit works,” Hopkins said.

Throughout the video, the off-color word is partially bleeped out.

The video was a response to a recent mailer from Evans that Hopkins said included claims that are untrue and misleading. It immediately set off a political storm online. Evans, an attorney and former state legislator, responded the next day on her campaign’s Facebook page with a boastful meme: “Refrained from the use of profanity. Still able to effectively communicate the sentiment.”

She took on the points Hopkins made in the video one by one and called the pastoral production a “smokescreen.”

“This is nothing more than trash talk from a candidate who claims to be running a positive campaign,” Evans said in an interview.

The back-and-forth attacks represent an escalation in the high stakes runoff to succeed Efren Carrillo representing western Sonoma County on the Board of Supervisors.

It revealed and reflected a new level of campaign-trail vitriol between the two rivals, both Democrats seeking to secure a simple majority of the vote in a district that is seen as the liberal heart of the county.

With less than a month remaining before people begin voting in the contest - mail-in ballots go out Oct. 10 and Election Day is Nov. 8 - the race is expected to grow increasingly negative, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist.

“Lynda Hopkins is saying ‘let’s get out of this dreaded game of us-versus-them politics,’ but that’s exactly what this is - attack, counter-attack,” McCuan said of the provocative response by the Forestville farmer and political newcomer last week. “This video adds fire to that attack cycle.”

More than 16,000 people have watched the video, and it has been shared more than 200 times on Facebook. Supporters of Hopkins and Evans used it as another chance to weigh in on the race online.

Hopkins ally Eric Koenigshofer, an Occidental attorney who represented west county on the Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s, described the video as refreshing.

“The campaign material put out by Noreen’s camp has been irresponsible in how it has characterized Lynda,” Koenigshofer said. “They cannot let go of the old model of adversarial politics between supposed environmental and labor on one side and business and ag interests on the other. It’s such a tired construct.”

The Evans mailer in question called Hopkins the “choice of developers,” claimed she is “bankrolled by gravel miners,” and “doesn’t support rent control.”

Hopkins has rejected those characterizations. She said in the past month that she does support the rent control ordinance that Santa Rosa council members approved Aug. 30.

Evans’ mailer also noted that Hopkins moved into the 5th District from Windsor’s outskirts last year. Hopkins has insisted that she decided to run for supervisor after that move.

Evans moved from Santa Rosa to Sebastopol in December. She announced her candidacy in January.

Evans’ supporters blasted Hopkins’ video as an “inappropriate,” juvenile stunt.

“That’s refreshing? That’s depressing,” said Anna Ransome, a Graton resident and environmental advocate. “It seems angry and defensive, and I don’t like that kind of advertising when people use humor and outrageous language to talk about serious issues.”

The video reflects a broader theme that has emerged in the race for the 5th District supervisor’s seat. Influence - real or perceived - of special interests has become a focal point in attacks by both campaigns. Hopkins and Evans continue to highlight the major donors that are lining up opposite them.

Evans has sought to draw attention to the hefty financial support her rival has received from real estate representatives, development interests as well as the wine industry.

Hopkins, meanwhile, touts a broader coalition of supporters and has criticized the heavy support Evans draws from public employee unions and other labor representatives.

Hopkins has taken issue, in particular, with the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 pledge Evans signed. It asks a candidate to vow to uphold labor laws, including workers’ rights to form a union.

“I have a tremendously broad base of support. There is no one single entity that is bankrolling my campaign,” Hopkins said. “And I think if you’re predicating an endorsement or campaign contributions on signing that pledge, that is the definition of quid pro quo.”

Evans said she is proud to have the support of labor and other groups.

“I have never in my whole life seen a candidate trying so hard to disassociate herself from her own supporters,” Evans said. “I feel very honored to have all of the support that I have.”

Evans, a political veteran with 20 years in elected office, challenged the idea that shining light on campaign contributions constitutes a political attack.

“My opponents’ campaign is trying to deflect attention from a candidate who is being funded by special interests. It’s a dirty trick. .?.?. I wish she would stick to the issues - pick a position and defend it,” Evans said. “What’s at stake is what Sonoma County is going to look like in 20 years, and are we going to remain a community that is diverse and that accommodates teachers and firefighters and artists.”

McCuan, the SSU political scientist, said the outsized attention on campaign donors in the race could help sway voters. The way in which candidates respond to criticisms over their supporter base, he said, reflects the stark contrast between Evans and Hopkins - the former a politician with experience in local and state office and the latter a political newcomer seeking her first elected seat.

“It’s unusual to think that those who brung you, ain’t going to want to dance with you,” McCuan said. “What we’re seeing in this race is a nostalgia for what politics should be.

“But the reality is that politics is rarely noble and this is where freshness and experience collide,” McCuan said. “This race, especially this year, is about the future balance of the Board of Supervisors.”

Whoever succeeds Carrillo could determine where the board lands on its most contentious issues. Next year, those are likely to include closely watched decisions on road repair funding, marijuana regulation, policies to address rampant homelessness and the rising cost of housing and employee pensions.

Two looming environmental issues could also prove pivotal, including a plan to halve summer flows in the lower Russian River and tighten oversight of winery development and event centers outside city limits.

Evans, a longtime supporter of coastal and open space protection, has landed most major environmental endorsements, but Hopkins, an organic farmer with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University has touted her interest in environmental issues as well.

Both have advanced claims that misrepresented the other’s stance on some issues.

Hopkins, for example, has told the public that Evans wants to invest the entirety of the county’s public pension assets in affordable housing, however Evans’ proposal is to invest a portion of the $2.3 billion fund into workforce housing.

Evans, meanwhile, has told people that Hopkins does not support Santa Rosa’s new rent control ordinance. Hopkins did not initially support it but she said she does now.

For her part, Hopkins described her latest campaign video in the cow pasture as a comedic response to “lies,” “negativity” and “misogyny” she said she has felt from Evans and her supporters in the race.

“That’s what we’re seeing on a national level with Donald Trump,” Hopkins said. “My husband and I have a long tradition of making funny videos, like egg-juggling and teaching roosters how to crow and that kind of stuff. We made the video because I think it’s important for people to understand the misinformation that’s being spread about me.”

Evans called the video “bizarre and unprofessional.”

“We have gravel miners, big-wine money and developers seeking to influence the outcome of this election,” Evans said. “These may be uncomfortable facts for my opponent, but they are taken directly from her campaign finance reports. All of the pretty images and harsh words don’t change that.”

The largest share of Hopkins’ campaign cash has come from the wine industry, real estate representatives and construction trade groups, campaign finance documents show.

She has received maximum contributions from the Sonoma County Alliance, the county’s largest business organization, as well as the North Coast Builders’ Exchange and the political arm of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Northern California, both construction trade groups.

She has also received large donations from the political action committee for the California Association of Realtors, which represents real estate interests and Napa-based Syar Industries, which has historically mined gravel from the Russian River and has a county permit to continue operations in the river near Alexander Valley.

Several winery executives also have contributed, including John Dyson, proprietor of Williams Selyem Winery in Healdsburg, Mike Martini, owner of Taft Street Winery in Sebastopol and Tony and Barbara Grasseschi of Puma Springs Vineyards in Healdsburg.

Evans has received a large share of her financial support from labor groups. Her most recent contributions include those from several unions, including the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Association political action committee. She has also received sizable donations from the SEIU, which represents the largest unionized group of county employees; the North Bay Labor Council; the political arm of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 551; and Marc Bommersbach, a vocal critic of winery expansion in Sonoma County. Other donors include former county Supervisor Ernie Carpenter, Regional Parks Director Caryl Hart, Rick Theis, founder of the nonprofit Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy in Santa Rosa and Guy R. Conner, husband of late state Sen. Pat Wiggins, who Evans succeeded in office.

SEIU is also running the independent campaign favoring Evans and opposing Hopkins.

It has spent nearly $82,000 in the race, campaign finance records show.

You can reach Staff Writer Angela Hart at 526-8503 or angela.hart@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ahartreports.