Mailer says Andrew Janz donors live in Silicon Valley. He says that’s misleading. Here’s why
The Fresno Chamber of Commerce is wading into the mayor’s race by attacking Andrew Janz for accepting Silicon Valley campaign donations during his 2018 congressional campaign.
Fliers hit mailboxes last week criticizing Janz for having few Fresno-based donors and accepting donations from tech executives in his previous campaign.
“Who’s funding Andrew Janz’s political career? Not people from Fresno…” the mailer reads. “Tell Andrew Janz he can have his Silicon Valley money, but not your vote.”
The mailer targets donations Janz received from executives at Google, Facebook, Amazon and Goldman Sachs & Co. during his high-profile 2018 challenge against Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare. That race attracted national attention, and several Hollywood celebrities highlighted and donated to Janz’s campaign.
The flier cites an analysis from the website San Joaquin Valley Sun noting “just 21 percent of all [Janz] donors were from Fresno.”
Chamber of Commerce funded
The mailer was funded by a Chamber independent expenditure committee to support Janz’s opponent, Jerry Dyer, and Fresno City Council candidate Nathan Alonzo. The California Apartment Association also paid for the mailer. It was not authorized by any candidates or their campaigns.
Nathan Ahle, the Chamber president and CEO, declined to answer specific questions from The Bee about the mailer. Instead, he emailed a statement citing a policy to not comment on specific tactics.
“…The Chamber participates in local elections when we see an opportunity to help elect candidates we feel promote a pro-business agenda.”
The Chamber’s political action committee interviews candidates during each election and makes a decision on who to endorse. In this case, the PAC chose to endorse Dyer, Ahle said.
Janz responds
Janz said the mailer made him laugh when he first saw it.
“I think it suggests that developers, big corporations and big business here in Fresno are really nervous,” he said.
Janz called the mailer misleading since many of the facts are about his congressional race and now he’s running for mayor.
While the mailer is factually correct, Janz said he has more individual donors from Fresno than Dyer. Overall, Dyer has raised more money than Janz, but Janz said that’s because Dyer is receiving the maximum donations from developers and corporations.
‘Local reporters?’
Janz also questioned the credibility of the San Joaquin Valley Sun.
Dyer told The Bee in previous interviews that the operator of the website, Alex Tavlian, works for his campaign managing social media. Tavlian also discussed his campaign work in an interview with Valley Public Radio. Tavlian also has disclosed his work for Dyer’s campaigns in posts on his site.
“Every election, voters crave knowing who is contributing to the candidates seeking to represent them in local office,” Tavlian said in an emailed statement to The Bee. “Given our mission, we at The Sun are proud to shine a light on that.”
Janz said it’s a conflict of interest for Tavlian to work for Dyer’s campaign and call himself a journalist.
“I don’t consider The Sun a legitimate news source,” Janz said. “I do think it’s a conflict of interest to have somebody working for Jerry Dyer’s campaign while being a ‘journalist’ for The Sun.”