The campaign text that flashed across Sunnyvale City Councilmember Richard Mehlinger’s phone pledged that Rishi Kumar would put money back into his pocket if elected as the next Santa Clara County Assessor.
Kumar, a former Saratoga City Councilmember, is one of four candidates looking to fill the seat left vacant after longtime Assessor Larry Stone stepped down earlier this year. But Mehlinger already had endorsed one of Kumar’s opponents — Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor — and decided to write back.
“Rishi Kumar isn’t fit to be dogcatcher, much less assessor,” he texted.
What came next was a profanity-laden response allegedly from Kumar’s campaign.
“It seems like you can sniff out dogcatcher talent because you are one?” the text read. “Rishi wrote a book on Al, is an Al expert, C-suite software executive and can teach you a thing or two. F— OFF f—face.”
It’s unclear exactly who wrote the text, but the number it originated from appeared to be the same one utilized by the Kumar campaign for text banking purposes — a way for campaigns to reach out to large groups of voters. The initial text that Mehlinger received last weekend said it was “Paid by RishiKumar.com.”
“Obviously I struck a nerve and I won’t lie I was amused,” Mehlinger said in an interview. “I think it shows the caliber of the campaign he’s running.”
The Sunnyvale councilmember said he’s text banked in the past both for his own campaign and for others.
“When someone texts you back that they aren’t going to support your candidate or they don’t like your candidate, you just ignore it and move on,” he said.
Kumar is insistent that the text couldn’t have come from his camp, though he said in an email that he’s currently conducting an investigation.
“Our texting volunteer team is well-trained and closely supervised, so this message could not have originated from us,” he said. “Since 2014, we’ve run texting programs with many returning volunteers and have never experienced any issues.”
The exchange eventually ended with the campaign allegedly calling Mehlinger a “pathetic weasel” and stating that they “are not going to waste our time with a loser like you.”
Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College, questions why Mehlinger received the text from the Kumar campaign in the first place given his support for Fligor. She said it doesn’t follow best practices and isn’t what you would “expect from a professional campaign.”
“Usually you would go through the contact numbers on your sheet and pull out elected officials or other VIPs and put those aside to be contacted directly by the candidate,” Michelson said.
The political science professor, who teaches a class on political marketing, said it also isn’t a good use of resources to contact individuals who already have pledged their support elsewhere.
“You spend your money either persuading the persuadables or motivating lower propensity voters,” she said.
Mehlinger isn’t the only voter who received the uncouth campaign texts.
Elise Lester responded to the same mass text indicating that she wouldn’t be voting for Kumar. She said it was because of Kumar’s opposition to Measure A — a Santa Clara County ballot measure asking to raise the local sales tax rate amid federal cuts to Medicaid revenues — and “lying about the powers of the assessor’s office.”
Kumar has previously sent out campaign texts pledging to “exempt property taxes for ages 60+.” The county assessor doesn’t have the power to exempt anyone from property taxes, but Kumar previously told The Mercury News he wants to advocate for state legislation or run a statewide ballot measure on the issue.
The campaign allegedly shot back at Lester’s message, saying there were “three big lies” in the race and called the current initiative to modernize the technology in the assessor’s office “BS…nothing’s been done.”
Lester, who is the vice president of the Silicon Valley Young Democrats but spoke to The Mercury News in her own capacity, said the “language and tone” of the texts were “shocking.”
“As someone who has chosen a career in public service it doesn’t seem appropriate to be using that kind of tone and language with people who are supposed to be your voters,” she said. “We shouldn’t be rage baiting our way into office.”
Lester, who noted that several other individuals received similarly-toned messages, feels like a public apology is warranted — especially to Mehlinger.
Menlo College’s Michelson said it’s likely that Kumar previously wasn’t aware of the messages, which were likely sent by a campaign volunteer. However, she said it “suggests that (the campaign) is not engaging in sufficient oversight.”
Relying on volunteers who might not be adequately trained comes with the risk of them misrepresenting the candidate or not following the script that they’ve been given, according to Michelson.
What comes next for Kumar, she said, is an “important inflection point.”
“I think where we can put credit or blame to Rishi Kumar is how he responds to this,” Michelson said. “But it could happen to anybody. Every candidate has volunteers that can go rogue. This certainly wouldn’t be the first time.”
Kumar didn’t signal what kind of action he would take, writing in an email that “our investigation is ongoing and we will report back soon as we conclude.”
Lester, though, worries about the kind of precedent the messages might set — especially during a time of deepening political polarization.
“We’ve really seen a turn for the worst in terms of the level of respect that is shown in this political space,” she said. “I think maintaining respect and decorum, especially when so much is on the line for working class people, is absolutely paramount. I think anything less for our voters and for constituents should not be accepted or tolerated.”