By George Lurie
Tulare
County - Brian Rouch has spent nearly a year – and tens of
thousands of his supporters' dollars – in his run for the supervisor's
seat in District 4.
But the 32-year-old first-time candidate said this week that he will drop out of the race immediately if his opponent, three-term incumbent Steve Worthley, can prove recent allegations that Rouch was once a member of the Sierra Club.
“Mr. Worthley has been distorting my record and my background throughout this campaign,” Rouch told the Voice this week. “Let me be clear. I have never been a member of the Sierra Club. If Steve Worthley can prove me wrong, I will drop out of the race tomorrow.”
When informed of Rouch's challenge, Worthley replied: “I have never said and never would say he is a member of the Sierra Club. The fact of the matter is that I don't care…Most of the information coming out about Mr. Rouch is from the Republican Party and not from my campaign.”
After finishing in a virtual dead heat in the primary election – Worthley received 39 percent of the vote to Rouch's 37 percent – an informal poll conducted this week by the Voice shows the race to represent Tulare County's predominantly rural, northern District 4 is too close to call.
Now, with Election Day less than two weeks away, both candidates are escalating their war of words.
"Brian has been absolutely clear, he has never been a member of the Sierra Club," said Leroy Swiney, a Rouch supporter and former 4th District supervisor. "As part of his college education,” Swiney added, “Brian worked on a business project that had broad public support, which happened to include the Sierra Club."
Rouch said he was surprised that his opponent has confused the fact that “just because someone has studied something, that means they agree with it. I have studied the failed policies of my opponent,” Rouch added. “But I sure can't agree with them. The truth of the matter is that studying something allows me to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of any policy.”
Rouch believes the Worthley campaign continues to mislead the public about his background, including his college experience. “I attended the same college in Boston as John Kerry,” Rouch said. “When Kerry ran for office, like many other Boston area political science students, I had a great opportunity to see a national campaign up close. Nevertheless, Mr. Worthley's campaign persists with their rumors and sinister innuendos. This is a really unfortunate and desperate attempt to distract voters from the fact that Steve Worthley voted to increase taxes on farmers and has consistently failed to chair the kind of Board that should be pro-business and pro-agriculture.”
In a telephone interview, Worthley fired back at Rouch: “This is not innuendo. It's not smearing. It's basically trying to inform people of who Mr.Rouch is. Here's a guy who showed up in District 4 having never lived here before…I want to know something about Mr. Rouch's background…He worked for the Sierra Club as an intern. One of our campaign people called the Sierra Club and confirmed it…”
Worthley, a lawyer, says he stands on his record and points out that he served as legal counsel for Sequoia Forest Industries for seven years. “I fought the Sierra Club to keep them from shutting down the national forest so that the saw mills could continue to operate,” he says, noting that in addition to his 12-year tenure on the Board of Supervisors, “I have spent over 30 years working as a private businessman representing the businesses, nonprofit organizations and people of this area.”
“It's important to find out about people's past in order to find out who they are today,” Worthley added. “Mr. Rouch often quotes his grandfather, proclaiming that 'If you want to know what someone will do in the future, look at what they've done in the past.' Well, here is your past, Mr. Rouch. Why are you denying your past and ever having any involvement with the Sierra Club? It's about a lack of honesty on his part.”
According to Tulare County election filings, Rouch spent $33,000 in the primary campaign; Worthley spent $13,500. Rouch's campaign has spent $32,000 since the primary and Worthley's side about $35,000 --- making this the single-most most expensive supervisor's race in Tulare County history.
Both candidates are expected to empty their campaign coffers in a last-minute media blitz that will run until the polls close on Nov. 2.
And while both candidates also say they are “fiscal conservatives” – a popular label in these Tea Party times -- Worthley is a registered Republican while Rouch “declined to state” a party on his voter registration and says he is an Independent.
Throughout the contentious campaign, Worthley has continued to hammer at Rouch's relative inexperience.
“[Rouch] has very little work
experience and what work experience he has is in the environmental community,”
Worthley said. (Rouch is a managing partner in a two-man, Visalia-based
energy-consulting firm. According to a declaration filed with the election
commission, Rouch's business generates between “$0 and $499 a year.”)
Worthley says his campaign is “being forced to react because my
opponent has characterized my record fraudulently. There are so many things
he's said about me that aren't true,” Worthley says.
“My past is out there. It's public information. Everybody knows who I am. There is no information about Mr. Rouch's past and people need to have information about people's past to make an informed decision.”
Rouch brushed off Worthley's charges this week, saying that he planned to spend the last days campaigning door-to-door, and that he's “focused on bringing jobs to Tulare County, building healthier communities and lowering taxes.”
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of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit
permission in writing from the publisher.