The Trouble With Kami Denlay
As of today, the local right-wing PAC has spent $37,712 to directly promote Kami Denlay, and another $14,713 attacking her opponents. Kami herself has received another $13,000, the majority of which came from the same far-right donors that support the PAC; Tom VanOverbeek, Slater and Sons, C.G. Development, Franklin Construction, (developers and contractors), the Dautermans (Tea Party republicans). That’s an incredible amount of money for a small local election, and considerably more than they have spent on any other single candidate. It’s also more than than any PAC spent in sum total on all candidates put together last year. As if that wasn’t alarming enough, a video Kami previously posted has been made public, and it highlights many of our concerns.
You can view the video here: Kami Denlay, They’re all Socialists!
One of the first alarms for us was Kami’s conspiracy-minded bent. She is convinced that all of the current councilmembers are socialists (see video), and has been a follower of other QAnon-type conspiracy theories. She had many similar videos posted prior to beginning her run for council, but at the advice of political strategists, those were removed when she turned in her candidate forms.
Literally no one on the council is a socialist. Some are registered Democrats, some registered Republicans. None has any affiliation with our local Democratic Socialists. Period.
This kind of intellectually lazy and uninformed rhetoric is a big part of what is damaging our community. “Anyone I don’t agree with is a socialist” is a laughable meme for a reason.
In addition, the claim that the current counsel is anti-police is utterly ridiculous. In the last four years, under both conservative and progressive majority councils, the council has disregarded the recommendations of the police chief one time. Literally, just once. There is absolutely no anti-police bias in evidence.
Kami also has a near-total lack of work experience. She appears to have held only one job, briefly, as a receptionist, and beyond that has otherwise not worked for many years. That’s a personal choice for Kami and her family, but also a choice her family couldn’t afford, as evidenced by their recent bankruptcy filing.
We gave a lot of thought as to whether we wanted to bring this up. This is very personal stuff, and many families struggle with financial challenges. At the same time, an inability to contribute to or manage one's own finances speaks directly to the challenges those elected to the city council will face in coming years.
Sound financial management is a critical component of managing the city effectively. Without an understanding of finance and a willingness to make sacrifices when required, the city wouldn’t be in the shape it is in today. Chico has spent the last 6 years cleaning up the mismanagement of a previous city manager, and is just starting to get back on track. With reduced sales tax income because of the pandemic, careful stewardship in coming years will be critical to keeping the city on the right track.
The fact is that no one running is less qualified to understand city finance than someone who doesn’t work and can’t manage their own finances.
Homelessness is another major concern in this election, and few others running have the dearth of experience or grasp of the issues than Kami. She recently pointed to the bible to support her contention that those who don’t work shouldn’t eat; never mind the reality that the majority of people living on our streets are disabled, elderly and mentally ill. She has literally proposed no solutions other than that we should ‘not feed them.”
Finally, she is also a creationist who home-schools her children to avoid them being exposed to accepted science. As fires and a pandemic continue to ravage our state, the last thing we need is a local leader who doesn’t understand or accept science.
Given all this information, we can’t support Kami for council. Lack of education, job/real world experience, lack of ability to manage finances, and a set of beliefs that are fringe at best make her a terrible candidate. Chico has never needed knowledgeable, experienced, science-based management more than we do now.
We wish Kami and her family well, and appreciate her taking on a run for council; we know it hasn’t been easy. But Chico must choose better qualified candidates for our city council.
