Familiar name wins Modesto Bee nod for California Assembly District 22
All three candidates featured in The Modesto Bee’s debate for California Assembly District 22 — Democrats Chad Condit and Jessica Self, and Republican Joel Campos — are conscientious and well-spoken. Condit, of Ceres, gets The Bee’s nod because his positions are closer to the center in a district made for the middle.
The folly of legislative boundaries produced in once-a-decade redistricting hurt Stanislaus County on all levels. Instead of staying intact, the county finds itself split in two Assembly districts: 9 and 22.
District 9 has 57,000 Stanislaus voters from Riverbank, Oakdale, Waterford, Salida and Del Rio in a district spreading over four other counties to the north. That election requires no endorsement because incumbent Republican Assemblyman Heath Flora is unopposed, and The Bee continues to wish him well.
District 22 has far more Stanislaus voters (223,000) in an area with the county’s three largest cities — Modesto, Turlock and Ceres — and Patterson and Newman, plus Gustine and Stevinson in Merced County. Registration by party is fairly balanced, with an edge to Democrats.
That edge doesn’t favor Campos, who presented himself well in The Bee’s forum. Born and raised in Modesto, and an associate regional planner for an agency in San Joaquin County, Campos knows the issues facing the Valley, and his service in the California Army National Guard is appreciated.
Two other Republicans — Guadalupe “Lupita” Salazar and Juan Alanis — did not participate in the forum, leaving them ineligible for The Bee’s recommendation. It’s an endorsement policy practiced by all 30-plus McClatchy newsrooms throughout the United States.
Self, a Democratic Central Committee leader and Modesto resident, deftly fielded debate questions as well. An attorney with the public defender’s office, Self’s selfless devotion to protecting the rights of some of the most vulnerable among us is impressive. Hers is a progressive message, one she delivers with ease, courage and conviction.
So here we have Campos on the right, Self on the left and Condit smack dab in the middle — exactly where he wants to be.
“We need to push our government to the middle ... where people work together,” Condit said in the forum. “We really are a divided country. We need leaders that can to Republicans, talk to Democrats, talk to independents, work with everyone. That’s where we need to head.”
Condit sounds — and let’s be honest, looks — like his father, Gary Condit, who three decades ago built a formidable Valley political machine established entirely on centrist appeal. Gary Condit’s famed role in the “Gang of Five” during his service in the California Assembly, and later to Blue Dog Democrats in Congress, was legendary before his fall from grace after the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a former federal intern from Modesto, 21 years ago.
Chad Condit deserves neither credit nor blame in his father’s story. But people remember the name, and voters have elected his cousin Buck to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, as well as Chad Condit’s sons Channce — also a county supervisor and former Ceres councilman — and Couper, who resigned after 10 months on the Ceres council.
Chad Condit’s initial stab at seeking office did not go well. In 2012, he finished third in a congressional primary running as a political independent.
A Democrat once more, Condit embraces much of the party’s platform but isn’t afraid to go his own way. For example, he favors rescinding Proposition 57, which has led to the early release of some prison inmates, and he rightfully criticizes state Democratic leadership for failing to provide more water storage despite the party’s supermajority stronghold in Sacramento.
He also has far more experience than any of his opponents in behind-the-scenes work at the state Capitol, having worked on Assembly staffs and in former Gov. Gray Davis’ office.
The Modesto Bee recommends Chad Condit in Assembly District 22.