Public feud between Santa Rosa councilwoman and candidate roils race

A spat between Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Julie Combs and Mary Watts, a City Council candidate and former Combs appointee, has broken into public view on the eve of the Nov. 6 election, putting Combs on defense against a rush of criticism from Watts’ allies and even some neutral political observers.

The dispute between the previously allied Santa Rosa liberals boiled over Sunday when Combs made the unusual move to post on Watts’ campaign Facebook page a series of missives questioning Watts’ motives for running and the viability of her candidacy in the District 4 field.

In addition to Watts, who is deputy director for the nonprofit Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County, the race includes Victoria Fleming and Dorothy Beattie, all making their first bid for elected office in a race with no incumbent.

Combs waded in on ?Facebook on Sunday after seeing a message that Beattie, a mortgage finance consultant, wrote on Watts’ campaign Facebook page. It wished her luck in the election.

“The reason Dorothy says good luck to Mary is that every vote for Mary helps Dorothy beat Victoria,” Combs wrote. “Victoria Fleming is our only opportunity to defeat the rights’ (sic) Chicago money in this campaign.”

Combs was referring to the roughly $13,000 in independent spending by a political arm of the National Association of Realtors in support of Beattie, a landlord who opposes rent control. The realtors’ group is based in Chicago, and its independent expenditures are the only outside spending in this year’s Santa Rosa council races.

In her Facebook comments over the weekend, Combs accused Watts of siphoning off votes that would otherwise go to Fleming, a clinical social worker who Combs is supporting in the race.

“Mary is a ‘spoiler’ in this race,” Combs wrote of Watts. “She is allowing the big money candidate to have a chance she wouldn’t have had. It will ruin Mary’s career to stay in rather than work for the common good. Let’s get real about this. Positive outcomes need truth - I’m willing to tell that truth.”

The councilwoman declined an interview request this week to explain her comments.

Watts, in an interview, said she found it “disappointing that a council member that I really have admired politically is just running a campaign against me.”

Combs’ term is up in 2020. She does not plan to seek re-election and announced in August she will run instead for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors seat held by Shirlee Zane.

Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins was among those who took issue with Combs’ comments on social media. Hopkins endorsed both Watts and Fleming and said she found it “appalling that a progressive female elected official would publicly attack a progressive young female candidate who made the bold and difficult decision to run for office.”

“We need less personal attack and accusation. We need more substantive debate about policy and background,” Hopkins wrote on Facebook. “We need more civility between candidates, like Dorothy wishing her opponent good luck. What we don’t need more of: current leaders dragging the debate straight into the mud.”

The District 4 race is the most contested in Santa Rosa’s first round of district-based council elections. Polling paid for by Fleming’s campaign shows her and Beattie as front-runners, with Watts trailing far behind in a survey of likely voters. Roughly one-third of voters surveyed in the poll said they remained undecided. Polling by Beattie’s campaign was not immediately available. Watts said her campaign has not paid for any polling.

By Oct. 20, Beattie’s campaign had raised about $38,200 this year, including $10,000 she loaned herself, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Fleming has raised about $30,750, including a ?$10,000 personal loan. Watts reported raising about $16,300.

Watts’ supporters include the Sonoma County Democratic Party, Santa Rosa Vice Mayor Chris Rogers, Councilman Jack Tibbetts, and the Teamsters 856. Beattie is backed by the national and local realtors’ groups, seven former Santa Rosa mayors and the Sonoma County Alliance, the largest local business coalition. Fleming has been endorsed by Mayor Chris Coursey, the Sierra Club and the North Bay Labor Council.

The Facebook spat involving Combs is the latest and most visible sign of her running feud with Watts. Their alliance collapsed in August after Watts announced her bid for City Council and Combs subsequently removed Watts from the Board of Public Utilities, where she’d served as Combs’ appointee since late 2015.

Combs said in mid-October she felt blindsided by Watts’ decision to run in District 4 and said she preferred to see Watts run against Councilman John Sawyer in District 2, where Sawyer is facing a challenge from former councilman Lee Pierce. Combs claimed Watts initially told her she wouldn’t run for council because her mother was sick and cited critical trust issues between herself and her erstwhile appointee.

“It is a consequence. I did not punish her,” Combs said in mid-October about stripping Watts’ appointment. “It is a natural outcome of not being honest with me.”

Watts said she told Combs she wouldn’t run against Coursey, who subsequently decided not to seek re-election, but made no promises not to run in District 4. Watts also denied citing her ailing mother as a reason she wouldn’t run.

After Watts’ removal from her appointed post became known, Board of Public Utilities member Chris Grabill wrote to the City Council in August to express his “disappointment and sadness” at what he characterized as an “unprecedented” act of political retribution by Combs.

Grabill took to Facebook to castigate Combs over her recent comments on social media, urging Combs to “just stop it.”

“She can take care of her career all by herself,” Grabill wrote of Watts. “Absolutely no need to negatively disparage candidates, especially historic allies and young aspiring leaders.”

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.