“Shorty” Crabtree
For whatever reason our local hard-right political blogger Barry Pruett has been promoting Brian in the race, making multiple posts about him. CABRO Founder Todd Juvinall said he likes him too.
Barry announced today that four of our five Nevada County Supervisors endorsed Brian in the race.
I haven’t paid too much attention to this Assembly race, because we’re going to send another conservative to Sacramento in a Democratic-controlled legislature. Whatever side of the aisle you’re on, it likely will translate into more political gridlock (a bigger problem in our county than who our Governor or President happens to be).
I hope Brian doesn’t make the mistake of other staunch conservatives we send to Sacramento, rises above partisan politics and chooses to advocate for a handful of nonpartisan issues that can help his rural constituents, instead of being a hard-right ideologue (AKA “sand pounder.”)
This effectively is a race that pits Redding and Shasta County against the other rural counties in the district, so maybe Nevada County can benefit if Dahle wins.
I looked over the list of supporters and also saw our “nonpartisan” County Assessor Sue Horne lending her name to the campaign. I hope Sue still is staying focused on her “day job,” which required quite a bit of training at our expense.
“Rags” Crabtree supports Brian!
Among the list of endorsements, I noticed a guy named Loren “Shorty” Crabtree of Modoc County. As it turns out, this guy should be nicknamed Loren “Rags” Crabtree. Why?
“Members of the Sacramento Sikh Temple have asked for a meeting with Modoc County Supervisor Loren “Shorty” Crabtree after he remarked that people attending a Woodland auction were ‘wearing rags around their heads,’” the Modoc News reported last year.
“Given recent hate crimes and attacks against Sikhs in the Sacramento area, the remarks by Chairperson Crabtree are very troubling,” said Amar Shergill, attorney and board member for the Sacramento Sikh Temple in an e-mail to the Modoc County Daily News.”
Loren “Shorty” Crabtree, chair of the Modoc County Board of Supervisors, said he did not intend to make a racial slur when he referred to people at a recent auction in Woodland as wearing “rags around their heads.”
‘“There’s a lot of those Hindus, a lot of them around that country down there,’ Crabtree said. ‘Rick Rudometkin (Modoc County CAO) told me there would be people there from all over the world. I didn’t mean it that way. I didn’t mean it was a racial slur.”’
Later, Crabtree formally apologized after meeting with the American Sikh community:
“As many of you are aware, during the April 12 Supervisor’s meeting, I made an inappropriate remark regarding Americans wearing turbans. After the meeting, I had a meeting with the American Sikh community and now understand that turbans have an important religious significance for Sikhs. The comments I made were hurtful and wrong, and I apologize for making the remarks. I was supposed to get a short DVD yesterday in the mail, but I never got it. If I get it, I’ll show it at the next meeting. Thank you.”
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Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims and what I’ve discovered is that folks intent on hating aren’t interested in knowing who Sikhs are or what they believe or even that they are not Muslims. I discovered this among Christian friends inperson and on the internet who continue to send out hateful e-mail forwards and disregard any education whatsoever. This is really sad for us as a society, as a democracy, as a country of immigrants. It appeals to the angry white male voter and, unfortunately, it works.
Interesting post Jeff. I have met Brian Dahle several times, and although I am sure we would have differences on certain state and national issues, he is a nice, polite, well informed, and thoughtful public servant. He has been a very good county supervisor, and a good board member on the Sierra Nevada Conservancy board. One of the facts of life with a top two primary system is that sometimes you cannot get what you want, but you may get more of what you need, in a public servant who understands rural issues and has a record of being able to work collaboratively with people who may not share his views.
By the way, Barry’s headline “Brian Dahle Endorsed by Nevada County Supervisors” is a bit deceptive. I am assuming that having run for office he knows that the board did not endorse Dahle; 4 supervisors endorsed Dahle as individuals.
Sounds like it, but he’d be well advised to find a new “spokesman” in our County — and perhaps Modoc County! LOL.
Steve,
I liked Brian as well in the candidate forums as well. I disagreed with him on fundamental issues such as Health Care. That aside he seemed to have the districts interest at heart. I have a hard time believing Meacher finished behind Bosetti, the guy who skipped out on most of the forums.
Hi Jeff,
I would have to agree with Steve Frisch as far as Brian’s character and experience.
I have gotten to know hiim and his lovely family and he is the epitomy of a public servant. I think he will make a great Assemblyman because he has the skills, knowledge and ability to work with people of all backrounds. I ran into him yesterday at the Tahoe Summit and I was pleased to see him there learning about the issues that will affect his district. I have found him to be open-minded and honest as well as very knowledgable on the rural issues. I also think it is good that he is being supported by a wide range of people including Bob Meacher the democrat he ran against in the primary. You should try and get to know him a little better, I think you would really like him. If you need his contact number, let me know. Thanks! Have a great day and try and stay cool in this heat wave!
Fortunately still holed up at Lake Tahoe, though working. I will call him. Enjoyed meeting incoming County Supervisor Richard Anderson this week. BTW, lots of Facebook reports of smoke in our Western County. Shannon just left to drive down into it.
I was up in Tahoe yesterday for the summit, it was a beautiful day, I love it up there. It rained a little which was nice to cool things off. I have met with Richard Anderson also, he is a great guy and I think he will be a good supervisor, very sincere and intelligent.
“wearing rags around their heads”… a guy wearing pieces of grass or pieces of rags shaped like a guacamole dish on the top of his head should think before he speaks.