by WorldTribune Staff, October 22, 2018
Saying it was tired of being bullied by a “Democratic political agitator,” a California newspaper has endorsed incumbent Republican Rep. Steve Knight over Democrat challenger Katie Hill in California’s 25th congressional district.
The Santa Clarita Valley Signal said in an Oct. 21 editorial titled “Fed Up with Bullies, We Endorse Steve Knight”, that it has been more than generous in its coverage of Hill but she refused to stop a campaign of harassment and slander against the newspaper by one of her campaign operatives.
The editorial said:
“[A] Democratic political agitator associated with the Hill campaign, masquerading as a concerned citizen, has done everything he could to try to unfairly discredit The Signal. He has lied, misrepresented and conflated facts in order to relentlessly attack this paper, the publisher, his family and the editor. This is such a hotly contested race that Hill’s advocates contacted left-leaning publications to attack us with unfounded accusations and material intentionally taken out of context.
“Such agitators will attack anyone who does not 100 percent agree with them. This is happening in politics all around the country. It’s a coordinated effort to create distrust and pit neighbor against neighbor. These agitators take to social media to create a cybermob. They post something that is not true or is taken out of context and keep reposting it so people will read it and believe it’s true, creating an echo chamber for their own propaganda. The same four or five people repeat the same thing over and over, distorting facts and creating doubt and distrust. The tactic fires up their base and in this case helps get national attention and money for the campaign.
“Hill’s campaign knew it was happening. They knew the accusations were not true or fair. They knew it was a smear campaign based on lies and misleading statements. They could have stopped it, but chose not to, for political gain. Is this someone you want in Congress? Is this someone you want to represent you? Someone who does not care what is happening as long as she benefits? Someone who will divide a community just to win?”
Hill, who favors higher taxes, higher gas prices, and gun control, was also a high-profile opponent of the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, having traveled to Washington, D.C. to protest in person.
In May, Hill was shown on national television making a joke about a female staffer’s “booty-call texts.” She refused to apologize.
The accusations against Kavanaugh were never corroborated. Hill’s behavior, however, was caught on camera and broadcast on HBO.
Knight, the Signal noted in its endorsement, “has proven himself as someone who can successfully work across the aisle.” As for Katie Hill, the Signal concludes, “We would rather not take that chance.”
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