5th District Supervisor Race 2016: Noreen Evans vs Lynda Hopkins

[photolite]

Tom, Thanks for posting this. It's a good mansplanation as to why a non-ethnic woman with no Union experience may still have worth as a human being, or a 5th Dist Supe.
Photo

...My FAVORITE Letter to the Editor about the 5th District election - THANK YOU Scott!!!

BIG-MONEY GIRL DOES GOOD...

[Sara S]

from Sonoma West Times and News, 10/20:

Let’s not be fooled

EDITOR: Lynda Hopkins may be an organic farmer with a fresh face and a couple of ˛Ivy League West degrees, compared to Efren’s one. Like him, she represents the good old boy network. And it is her campaign that is the nasty one, blaming and haranguing and then acting like the victim. The earlier harping on pension legislation reminds me of the persecution of Rue Furch over her property taxes. The latest hit pieces from Eric Koenigshofer, lobbyist for Preservation Ranch, which ultimately garnered $10 million from the Coastal Conservancy and special interest money from the same real estate, development, wineries and extractive industry interests that have funded Mrs. Hopkins’ campaign, include a full-page color ad and a glossy color mailer the same day.

Both slam Noreen Evans and her time on the Coastal Conservancy, saying she did not vote on key coastal issues. This is misleading and disingenuous; as a legislator, Ms. Evans was not a voting member of the Conservancy. One wonders why those who know, such as the Conservancy Chair, can allow such misinformation to be published. On Oct. 13, another costly full-page color ad slams Evans for taking money from casino interests while accusing Mrs. Hopkins of a conflict of interest for the same. This ad, again funded by those special interests, including those involved in the Cloverdale casino, the tribe's lobbyist, Rob Muelrath, is Hopkins’ campaign consultant and shows how desperate her supporters are to keep their power in Sonoma County. They want to hand an extremely important job to someone with no experience, like she was handed a several-million-dollar organic farm as a wedding present. If the subject comes up about the money literally pouring into her campaign, it is either dismissed or called an attack. Mrs. Hopkins may very well be passionate about West County issues, but I for one am tired of hearing about her Stanford degrees and her organic farm. Let’s not be fooled it’s becoming more and more painfully obvious that that essential swing vote on the Board of Supervisors, so urgent now for protecting our beloved county and coast, is in grave danger of being bought.

Kate Fenton

Jenner

[photolite]

Today's PressDemocrat

Evans’ benefactors
EDITOR: Noreen Evans has been smearing Lynda Hopkins for months. I hope 5th District voters (of whom I am one) do what I did: go to the campaign contributions to see who paid Evans’ way to Sacramento

Evans says Hopkins is somehow elitist because wineries and real estate interests donated to her campaign. Sacramento-bound Evans happily took “elitist” winery, attorney and real estate money — and didn’t return it.
In this campaign, Evans came to the very business associations she now disparages asking for their money and endorsements. She didn’t get them, so now Evans says they are evil. Wineries and real estate were good then and evil now? Don’t buy the Sacramento politics.
The Engineering Contractors Association contributed to
Hopkins’ campaign. Hopkins was with us at the Children’s Museum groundbreaking, where we donated more than $80,000 in work to them. We have contributed more than $1.3 million back into our community to disadvantaged youth, abused women and others less fortunate. We aren’t big business, we are the community. Does that sound evil or elitist to you? Evans is the candidate who sold her soul to Sacramento special-interest groups. We don’t need Sacramento telling west county what to do.
Vote local. Say no to Noreen Evans. Say yes to Lynda Hopkins.
JOHN BLY

[Ken Sund]

... Evans is the candidate who sold her soul to Sacramento special-interest groups. ...

Let's look at smearing and what "dark money" in elections does.
I think the obscene amount of super pac money being used to trick the public into voting for a "fresh face"
is corrupting our electoral process in the 5th district. Why would a super rich financier from New York want to send an inexperienced organic farmer $40,000? How will the Muelrath- Bosco- Koenigshofer group be channeling the $160,000 cash on Hopkins' behalf? Muelrath is again tangled up in more campaign financing hanky panky in a Santa Rosa election.("Finance law gaps allow big donations" ) If you mistakenly charge Evans with "selling her soul", is not Hopkins selling her soul? She is also selling out her constituents for the big money power grab of our county.
Who is smearing who and with who's financing?
Follow the money.
Ken Sund.

[mouse]

The 'fresh-faced' one comes across as elitist because she is--she expects and accepts huge financial gifts that she neither worked for nor earned, and despite the void of experience and absence of a practical work history, she is steadfast in her belief that she is entitled to a supervisor seat.

She has stale degrees from an elite university that she has never actually used professionally, didn't have to pay for, is of a class that gets million dollar real estate parcels as wedding gifts, and has a wildly puffed up resume all of which she offers as evidence that she is entitled to run the 5th district.

Why would anyone want her first foray into the local workforce to be as our 5th District supervisor? (Oh wait, I remember now, her corporate benefactors understand that her presence on the board would garner them access.)

[riverosprey]

Hopkins has strong values

I have known Lynda Hopkins intimately for fourteen years, and been married to her for six. We met while in Stanford’s Earth Systems program, where we studied land use, climate change, marine science and environmental economics.

We took our values with us when we moved back to the property where I grew up along the Russian River. Lynda and I started an organic vegetable farm. Despite intense pressures, we never used a single non-organic product on our fields. We chose to grow vegetables, grains, and livestock because that was our vision for the community—not because it was the path of least resistance.

While farming, Lynda also served as Executive Director at Farm Trails and as a community journalist with Sonoma West Publishers. She has always taken the path of serving the community and put her values ahead of doing what was easy or profitable.

As co-treasurer for Lynda’s campaign, I can tell you that the campaign has received over 500 donations below $250—most of them below $100—from ordinary community members. Anyone elected to supervisor is going to have to answer to supporters and donors who they may disagree with at times. But I’m proud to say that Lynda will have far more small donors to answer to, and I know that she has the strength and values to follow her conscience. Lynda will always put the needs of the West County community, environment and people first.

Emmett Hopkins

[mouse]

Wow, these people born on third base really do believe they've hit a triple.

It's lovely that he admires his wife and that he wants to come to her rescue. Will he be at board meetings if she encounters further distress?

Also, I guess they think we can't do math (even if we are to accept his random, super generous statistic about small contributions, she has about $100,000.00 to account for...) If only every county resident had to walk her 'difficult path' and had to sustain her "values." (What could be easier and more profitable than receiving the valuable gift of Sonoma County real estate?)

Hopkins has strong values...

[mouse]

And one last thought for this morning, do you all know any professional adult who mentions their dang ten year old degrees this much? Me neither.

[BethLinley]

And they will be happy NOT to have to deal with or against Noreen Evans on environmental issues on which she has a proven track record. They are gambling that Lynda will not be as tough.

...In the Fifth Supervisorial District of Sonoma County, California, big contributors are grateful that Lynda will talk to them at all. She certainly doesn't have to....

[Peacetown Jonathan]

Please provide the public, Jonathan, with who makes up your "Progressive" group. I...

Nina, the names of the people who vote on each Voter Guide are, and have always been, listed on our website at www.ProgressivesSebastopol.com. We are about to update the June guide with our new November Voter, which you can see, with the names of our eight members, in our brand new post on Wacco here.

[Peacetown Jonathan]

From the just released Progressive Sebastopol November 2016 Voter Guide, which can be read in full on Wacco here, the eight current members of our group (Andrea Culbertson, Jonathan Greenberg, Kai Harris, Kai Lewis, Lynda McDaniel, Jim McGreen, Jaime Mustacich and Harvey Sherman) were almost equally divided on which candidate to endorse, so we have chosen to remain neutral and not make an endorsement for this hotly contested race. We have tried to lay out what we see as the pros and cons of each candidate, in the hopes that this provides helpful info to voters, to make their choice based upon which issues and concerns speak most to them.

County Supervisor 5^th District Neutral/No endorsement

Our 5th District is blessed that Noreen Evans and Lynda Hopkins are both extremely hard working, caring, intelligent, and capable progressive Democrats. During last June’s primary, Progressive Sebastopol endorsed Lynda Hopkins. For the November election, after reviewing both candidates’ responses to short questionnaires and receiving too many mailers from an anti-Evans PAC, we choose to remain neutral.

Both candidates have their advantages. Evans has a proven, reliable track record as an environmentalist and brings far more experience in government. She also supports some funding for restoring library hours should Measure Y fail. Yet, experience cuts both ways. Entrenched political insiders like Evans are less likely to reassess their failed policies, such as our County’s inadequate response to the housing crisis and out-of-control pension costs.

We like that Hopkins is an organic farmer and brings a fresh and responsive approach to challenging local issues like County pensions and attainably priced housing. On the other hand, we have become increasingly concerned about her funders and the negative PAC campaign attacking Evans’ solid record as an environmentalist. We were also disappointed at Hopkins’ unwillingness to commit to County co-funding to restore library hours should Measure Y fail.

[beshiva]

Way back when Noreen first ran for office, wineries were Not what they are today. there was a certain modesty which today IS over the top big big money and they do Rule. we can thank Eric Koenigshofer and his crew back when he was on the Board for creating the wine monsters and he should talk-he was a sell-out then and is a sell-out now with Efren-they are shameless and if anyone was around over the past couple of years and had any opportunity whatsoever to watch Eric on the Task Force then you will know just how hard he fights for the status quo. he was an impediment to oversight for law enforcement, why would we expect any less of him now. Bashing Noreen is in order for him and supporting someone who will be manipulated so easily, with absolutely NO Experience is the way they have wanted this to flow. For their mantra it will always be, let the wine flow, let the money flow, let the river flow wherever it benefits the wine industry and the hell with the rest of us. does anyone Remember, so long ago that the west county were considered the dredge of the county...no one ever gave a damn about the west county for many years...i know i lived there for over 30 years....now it's considered up for grabs and exploit it all the way to the mouth of the river, anything goes...

...Evans says Hopkins is somehow elitist because wineries and real estate interests donated to her campaign. Sacramento-bound Evans happily took “elitist” winery, attorney and real estate money — and didn’t return it....

[beshiva]

Hopkins has strong values
...
Emmett Hopkins

Yeah yeah, my husband loves me too,
Sorry doesn't count- love is blind!
Really! If the day comes you criticize your WIFE, we'll offer you our couch to sleep on :)

[beshiva]

County Supervisor 5^th District Neutral/No endorsement

Desmond Tutu said, "if you are Neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality".

[Peacetown Jonathan]

Situations of injustice? Really? Lynda Hopkins as an example of the "oppressor" that the great Desmond Tutu refers to. This reference is an insult to Hopkins, and Desmond Tutu, and the real battles against injustice and oppression that all too many struggling people fight in this world.

This is exactly the sort of language that so many of us are disgusted wirth in this election. Just as the recent ads attacking Evans turn people off, hysterical language like yours, Beshiva, attacking Hopkins for no good reason beyond your apparent hated of the people who support her (despite the fact that many of the same funders supported and founded Noreen in years past) turns people off to Noreen Evans.

Neutral means that we could not come to a consensus, which sometimes happens in a democratic process like endorsing candidates.

But Lynda Hopkins, mother of two running a healthy local organic farm, as well as any decent, honest, and well-intentioned member of our community like her running for public office, deserves better than to be slandered in this way.

Your comment is the type of shameful talk that turns people off to civic engagement, and drags honest political discourse into the gutter.

Desmond Tutu said, "if you are Neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality".

[scamperwillow]

Here is the latest list of contributions to the PAC Eric Koenigshofer is running to slander Noreen:

Date Filed	Contributor Name	Amount
9/29/2016	Northcoast Citizens for a Better Economy	$5,000
9/29/2016	Sonoma County Alliance Political Action Committee	$10,000
10/4/2016	Balletto Vineyards	$5,000
10/4/2016	Sonoma Alliance for Vineyards and Environment	$20,000
10/11/2016	California Real Estate Political Action Committee	$25,000
10/11/2016	Willam Gallaher	$20,000
10/12/2016	California Real Estate Political Action Committee	$15,000
10/12/2016	Northcoast Citizens for a Better Economy	$5,000
10/14/2016	John Dyson, Millbrock Capital Management, New York	$35,000
10/14/2016	Sonoma County Alliance Political Action Committee	$15,000
10/17/2016	Speedway Sonoma LLC	$5,000
10/18/2016	Northern California Engineering Contractors Association PAC	$3,000
	TOTAL	$163,000

Desmond Tutu said, "if you are Neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality".

[beshiva]

Situations of injustice? Really? Lynda Hopkins as an example of the "oppressor" that the great Desmond Tutu refers to. This reference is an insult to Hopkins, and Desmond Tutu, and the real battles against injustice and oppression that all too many struggling people fight in this world.

This is exactly the sort one language that so many of us are disgusted with in this election. ...

Yo Yo Yo Mean!
Really Barry!?? Does this guy get the same private email I got OR is this something NEW? Ugh

[Barry]

Yo Yo Yo Mean!
Really Barry!?? Does this guy get the same private email I got OR is this something NEW? Ugh

Back Story:
Just after beshiva posted his desmond tutu injustice post (but before I saw it), I sent him a private email saying:

Can you please throttle back on your posts please?

If you've got some new information or a new opinion/argument go ahead and post it. Thanks.
Barry

I feel that much of this discussion has turned into warring camps doing battle with increasing fervor and decreasing respect and thoughtfulness. I think beshiva has been one of the primary examples of this, and is often the instigator that causes a return volley from the other side (as in this case) so I asked him to tone it down. And there are others...

If he had toned it down and not gotten on Jonathan's back for being Neutral (fer god's sake!) this wouldn't of happened. Since it did, he had it coming and Jonathan expressed it in with his typical eloquence and I fully support his sentiment.

Come on folks... please dial it back a bit. To start with, please, please, please, don't re-hash the same information/opinion that has been posted hundreds of times (seriously, this is post #475, plus 78 posts on the prior thread!) If nothing else, it is getting boring! And that's bad for business! Additionally, please be more respectful to the candidates and supporters of the other side. Some of your posts meant to support Noreen by attacking Lynda (and some vice-versa, but not as much) has had the effect of to turning me off to Noreen. I'm sure that has happened to other readers, too. So you are not serving your cause. Neither Lynda nor Noreen is evil. We are blessed to have two such gifted candidates!

[Ruhkukah]

Question about Lynda Hopkins
One of my friends told me she watched a video on Lynda Hopkins' website, in which Lynda explains that it isn't true she moved into the 5th District from District 4 to the north, that she had really lived on the same farm for 9 years. My friend told me the video explained that the district lines changed. Is there any truth to any of this?

[beshiva]

i want to express, as in "finally", that i wish to dial back the rhetoric. First, off let me say, i am not a HE Barry, i am a she, as in Marni. I also don't believe, Barry, anyone "has it coming".
I feel, that posts from BOTH camps have been harsh, and that i have expressed in past threads, probably, If we were really Progressive in this county as some of us want to believe that we are, we probably would not have voted for either of these candidates.
l'm trying, to make it very clear...i do not disparage personalities, i don't feel either Noreen OR Lynda are Bad people...i think they want to get onto the BOS for all sorts of reasons, some of which we all know about on this thread, and probably for reasons None of us know anything about.
I've always been straightforward in my activism and i'm not one to compromise easily...i say this because i believe so many folks on this thread and overall in the activist community (if even some of YOU are activists) that it starts to sound personal, but it should Not be personal. When someone is called on their actions, no matter whose side you might be on, please don't take it personal. i have followed and been involved in a lot of activism in this community, County, for many years... And, no matter what side you think you find yourself on, or believe wholeheartedly that what you might be doing is "right", we all have imperfections! And, for the people or groups of people, who have supported each candidate, they too have great imperfections
in this debate many of us have participated, concerning the BOS election, i don't believe either candidate is Perfect! Not by a long shot....
for me, and from my experience, i've seen such ugly politics in this County, at times i am dismayed, i am brought to my knees.
If there were anyone out there who was truly a good politician and a person who could step onto the Board of Supervisors and work for the People, i don't think they would really be elected. it simply, doesn't work that way.
We try to support OUR best candidate because we want to be whole, we want our elected officials to work for US..in the end i think they do a little of both-they work for the people and they work for their own self interests.(as in, how do i get re-elected)
i also think that those of us who have expressed, at times so vehemently, our point of view, have done the same(we want a better community, we want OUR candidate to Win)
nite

...I feel that much of this discussion has turned into warring camps doing battle with increasing fervor and decreasing respect and thoughtfulness. I think beshiva has been one of the primary examples of this, ...

[Barry]

...You should have seen my original letter to the editor. ...

It's still pretty bad.

And please let Erik the K and Lynda know that the recent negative campaign against Noreen has moved me from supporting Lynda to undecided. Sad.

[riverosprey]

Haven't sent yet...will review...T.L.

It's still pretty bad.

[scamperwillow]

Question about Lynda Hopkins
One of my friends told me she watched a video on Lynda Hopkins' website, in which Lynda explains that it isn't true she moved into the 5th District from District 4 to the north, that she had really lived on the same farm for 9 years. My friend told me the video explained that the district lines changed. Is there any truth to any of this?

Ridiculous. No lines changed. Lynda moved from her farm in the fourth district into her house in the fifth district about a year ago.

[Shepherd]

So many people tell me that this thread disgusts them, because of the unnecessary attacks by members of both sides. They cause damage to Wacco's credibility, which then loses readers. I wish that the moderator would delete the unfounded personal attacks and excessively negative language.

[Barry]

So many people tell me that this thread disgusts them, because of the unnecessary attacks by members of both sides. They cause damage to Wacco's credibility, which then loses readers. I wish that the moderator would delete the unfounded personal attacks and excessively negative language.

Thanks for your feedback, Shepherd, our peaceful warrior.

What do the rest of you think? Is there anybody that wished I had deleted a post that attacked your candidate's opponent ?? Bonus points for identifying the post (by post number). You are welcome to reply privately.

[Barry]

One of my friends told me she watched a video on Lynda Hopkins' website, in which Lynda explains that it isn't true she moved into the 5th District from District 4 to the north,

I would be very surprised if there was such a video on Lynda's website. Anybody care to look for it? No lines changed. In her infamous "Bullshit video" (around the 4 minute mark) she explains she moved from her farm, which was "a couple of thousand feet" from the 5th district into the 5th district "over a year ago".

[Roberta Llewellyn]

Shepard and Barry,

I left this thread basically because of the negativity and I feel a more inclusive tone is needed. Nonetheless, we must tolerate a certain degree of the negative which leaves room for the positive to come through!

Thanks for your feedback, Shepherd, our peaceful warrior.

What do the rest of you think? Is there anybody that wished I had deleted a post that attacked your candidate's opponent ?? Bonus points for identifying the post (by post number). You are welcome to reply privately.

[podfish]

What do the rest of you think? Is there anybody that wished I had deleted a post that attacked your candidate's opponent ?? Bonus points for identifying the post (by post number).

I certainly don't think a moderator's necessary. Maybe offer a different category that is moderated? But to be patronizing about it, politics is a subject for the big kid's table. If we can't be mildly offensive there, where can we? More seriously, people pay a price for the tone they adopt already. There are plenty of comments in this thread alluding to strident posters actually turning off potential supporters rather than converting new ones.
And since this isn't one of the threads where I've indulged my own harsher instincts, I feel I can comment dispassionately. I don't see anything particularly out of line in any of the rhetoric here. We don't have a political system based on politeness; those (especially the candidates) who engage in it know what they're going to get, and I don't even think that, human nature being what it is, a civil and polite dialog over politics, especially during elections, would illuminate the issues adequately.

[rossmen]

How do you make a small fortune in the wine business?... start with a large one.

It's clear that evans is totally outclassed in this election, as in economic class. John dyson looks to be a pretty cool guy online, and the family is worth a billion. Hopkins has very rich friends who give away lots of money. Another reason she is likely to win, the 5th goes the way of the 4th.

I was hanging with some guy friends doing guy things a month ago and i said to the one who is a professional investor for the super rich; a good investment strategy would be in the backers of the winning presidential candidate. He said yeah.

So the question is, how will this local phenom of .01%ers buying up the politics of soco play out? My answer; we will be preserved. I have noticed that hopkins policy sounds more like evans as the campaign goes on. I'm not sure it matters who i vote for.

[Barry]

Outside group ramps up anti-Noreen Evans campaign in Sonoma County supervisor race
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6201952-181/outside-group-ramps-up-anti-noreen?artslide=0

An independent campaign supporting Lynda Hopkins in her bid for a seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has launched a series of political attacks against her opponent, former state Sen. Noreen Evans, bashing her record in Sacramento and raising questions about campaign contributions she received during her decade in the state Legislature.

The group behind the mailers is bankrolled by wealthy winery owners, influential business groups and prominent real estate developers, many of whom have also contributed to Hopkins’ campaign.

The ads, including mailers and full-page advertisements in The Press Democrat, challenge Evans’ attendance record, starting in 2009, as a member of the legislative oversight committee for the California Coastal Conservancy, the state agency overseeing coastal conservation and restoration projects. They also highlight past campaign contributions she has received from special interests, including casino operators.

“We can’t just sit by on the sidelines and watch Noreen relentlessly mislead voters and try to dismantle Lynda by saying she’s green-washed, and she’s going to turn loose development and gravel mining interests on Sonoma County,” said Eric Koenigshofer, an Occidental attorney who is running the independent campaign. “That’s just nonsense.”

Donors to the group include John Dyson, proprietor of William Selyem Winery in Healdsburg, the Sonoma County Alliance, the California Real Estate political action committee and William Gallaher, founder of Oakmont Senior Living and a developer of the Bell Village housing project in Windsor.

Altogether, the campaign has raised $163,000 since it was formed on Sept. 29. It has spent more than $66,000 to date on advertisements. The campaign is independent and barred by law from coordinating with Hopkins’ campaign.

Koenigshofer indicated the group will continue to pump out ads in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election to determine who succeeds Supervisor Efren Carrillo. He called out past contributions Evans has taken from banking and oil companies, including Chevron, and multinational corporations such as Georgia Pacific Corp., the Atlanta-based building products and paper maker owned by Koch Industries, controlled by the conservative businessmen Charles and David Koch.

“I like to think what we’re doing is holding up a mirror to Noreen, and applying her standards to herself,” Koenigshofer said. “If who you take money from is some evidence of questionable conduct, then she needs to own up to her own history as a politician.”

Evans, who has been critical of Hopkins’ political backers, called the campaign a “smokescreen” for special interests seeking to influence the outcome of the race for 5th District supervisor.

“This is an obvious attempt to deflect public attention from the big bucks flowing into the Hopkins campaign and that of her supporter, Eric Koenighshofer, and it has absolutely no application to what is going on in this campaign,” Evans said. “It’s a common campaign tactic to claim the other side is doing something that they are in fact doing, and that is taking significant amounts of money from big business interests, groups opposed to rent control and those who want to restart gravel mining in the Russian River. This is nothing more than negative and deceptive campaigning.”

Hopkins, a Forestville organic farmer making her first bid for public office, has touted her desire to remain “positive” in her campaign, but she characterized the attacks against her opponent as warranted.
“There has been a tremendous onslaught against us,” Hopkins said. “Organic farming is not just a label, I’ve devoted my life to this for the past nine years, and I have received money from some of the same campaign contributors as her in the past.”

Evans said the attacks on her record in state office reflect the high stakes in a contest to decide who holds a seat that could determine the board’s direction on high-profile issues, including tighter limits on wineries and development of affordable housing.

Evans defended her record as one of six members of the legislative oversight committee for the state Coastal Conservancy. She acknowledged missing some meetings, but she and others said regular attendance was not expected from the legislative members.

“I wasn’t a voting member, and I wasn’t supposed to go to Coastal Conservancy meetings. Had I attended them, I would have actually missed my work in the state Capitol, where I had voting responsibilities,” Evans said. “So this attack is a complete fabrication and it’s an attempt to smear my reputation with voters, who I have served for 20 years.”

Neal Fishman, a longtime former top official for the Coastal Conservancy and president of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the county’s largest environmental organization, said regular committee attendance was not required of legislators in Evans’ post.

“The oversight committee functioned as another set of eyes over the budget, but legislative members were never expected to show up because they were nonvoting members of the organization,” Fishman said. “Discussions on projects and spending are done prior to the meetings ever taking place. Virtually every person who has ever been on the committee has not attended meetings.”

Evans acknowledged receiving money from Station Casinos of Las Vegas, which operates the Graton Resort and Casino outside Rohnert Park.

Those contributions served as a key point in one of the mailers pumped out by Koenigshofer’s independent campaign, which said that Evans has “spent her career as a professional politician raking in over $180,000 from statewide gambling interests. This includes thousands from Station Casinos.”

Evans pointed out, however, that she voted against the compact that finalized the casino deal between the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria and the state Legislature in 2012 that cleared a final roadblock for the controversial gambling development.

“There was a lot of opposition at the time, and I listened to my constituents and voted my conscience,” Evans said. “My biggest concern was that it was development on the outside of the urban area, and there were issues with the (endangered) tiger salamander and nearby wetlands.”

Evans countered the assertion that she would be favorable to inviting future casinos into Sonoma County. In an interview, she also turned the tables, questioning Hopkins’ political ties to her campaign consultant, Rob Muelrath, who is also the consultant behind a proposed casino development sought by the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians. Such developments are generally outside of the Board of Supervisors control beyond deals to mitigate for impacts to public safety, infrastructure and the environment.

“The one opportunity I’ve had to support a casino, I voted ‘no’” Evans said.

The pro-Hopkins group has quickly outraised two independent groups formed earlier in the race to support Evans.

One of those groups, formed in August and backed by environment and labor advocates supporting Evans, has raised nearly $60,000, largely from labor unions, including the Sonoma County Law Enforcement Association and the Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents the largest group of unionized county workers. The independent campaign has spent nearly $40,000 attacking Hopkins in mailers and on radio waves, according to the latest campaign finance records.

“Don’t let Lynda Hopkins take us back,” one mailer said, pointing out that she has accepted significant campaign cash from developers and business interests.

An additional independent campaign run by SEIU 1021 spent $81,756 leading up to the June primary but has been inactive since.

“We’re trying to play up Noreen’s strengths, which are long-held positions on protecting labor rights and protecting the coast and the environment,” said Jack Buckhorn, the executive director of the North Bay Labor Council, who is helping to run the active pro-Evans independent campaign. “We’re also wondering why this out-of-town investor is pouring so much money into a local race. He apparently cares a lot about winery development and protecting these tasting rooms and event centers.”

Buckhorn was referring to Dyson of William Selyem Winery. He was deputy mayor of New York City under Rudy Giuliani and also owns three other local vineyards, one near Guerneville, one off Olivet Road west of Santa Rosa and one near Larkfield-Wikiup off Mark West Station Road.

Dyson said he is supporting Hopkins, both directly and indirectly through the independent campaign, because he opposes Evans’ long tenure in politics and her strong support of labor unions. Dyson said this election is the first time he has contributed to an outside campaign in Sonoma County. He has made past contributions directly to Efren Carrillo in both of his supervisorial runs, as well as Mike McGuire during his runs for both county supervisor and state Senate.

“Lynda Hopkins comes at this fresh and new, with an open mind,” Dyson said Saturday, from the wine pickup party at his upscale Westside Road winery. “Noreen comes with preset ideas and a nasty attitude and she’s been around too long. And, I don’t think it’s fair to take so much money from labor unions when supervisors negotiate with them at arm’s length.”