Ten candidates are officially in the race for the 2026 California gubernatorial election. Prominent among them, Steve Hilton (R), Eric Swalwell (D), Tom Steyer (D) and the other Republican runner, Chad Bianco. The Riverside County Sheriff and Conservative Party member interviewed with the San Francisco Examiner recently and had plenty to say. Bianco has denounced sanctuary law for refugees, claimed environmentalism is terrorism, endorsed the oil industry, and more. He is also affiliated with far-right antigovernment Oath Keepers militia, known participants in the events of January 6, 2021.
Guest Editor James Conrad offers his sentiments regarding Bianco’s responses.
“I am the absolute only [candidate] that has actually been dedicated to public service for 32 years, that has a proven track record, an irrefutable, proven track record.”
Okay. If that’s true, surely you can answer this: How is seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots from an election about the prevention of gerrymandering a “public service?” And what’s with the cries of election fraud? All because some right-wing bampots who bill themselves the Riverside Election Integrity Team (what a joke) could not handle the outcome. Why is rejecting democracy your best example of good “public service?”
By the way Mr. Bianco, we know about your self-serving former deputies. Two of your men were prosecuted for the deal they struck with DJ’s Towing company owner, Cody Close. Your officers funneled business to DJ’s in exchange for undisclosed “gifts,” earning each a bribery charge, is that right? Deputies Samuel Flores and Robert Christolon were under your command, correct? It seems your department was more interested in serving itself than the community you swore to defend and serve.
Most abhorrently, Riverside County’s so-called “correctional” facilities are among the deadliest in the nation. This network of jails and prisons reported 226 fatalities between 2011 and 2022 (per CalMatters.org). The leading cause of death: negligence by correctional staff. The true toll could be much higher. Genuine public service requires accountability, and that ain’t it.
“California is not broken because of law enforcement. It’s not broken because of businesses or residents or our weather. It’s broken because of an absolute failed political environment by all of the people that are running for governor right now, and I am the only person on this ballot that has dedicated my life to making their lives better.”
Is California broken? I get it: the employment rate is shit, and cost-of-living feels more like living, but at what cost? The phrase “affordable housing” divides our political stage like the infamous fault that cracks our state in two. Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs and cuts to funding for supportive housing help only those it was designed to help, not us.
On the bright side, the state still boasts the world’s fourth largest economy. We’re even ahead of Japan. California has also significantly lowered greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter of the 21st century. Stocks are high,* TVs are cheaper than ever, and the Big One has yet to take out San Francisco [👀]. Sometimes there are worse things.
“I am going to remove the environmental restrictions. This environmental activism — and I’ll say it: it’s terrorism. It is California terrorism being conducted by environmental activists that are absolutely destroying our state by impeding, restricting and preventing growth and prosperity.”
Terrorism? Seriously? To everyone else reading this, don't forget terrorism’s polarizing effect, how fast it fashions a binary of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ It's dangerous how easily that serves the agenda of whatever governing authority gets to define it. Worse, that definition is malleable (rogue, military; foreign, domestic) endlessly appendable (eco-, bio-, nuclear), and ultimately subject to the sheer scale of spectacle. To cry ‘terrorism’ airlifts the accuser to a moral high ground, where the status of Victim awaits.
Moreover, the spectacle of terrorism induces a kind of amnesia (what was big news days before 9/11?) that only behooves the accuser. Fabrication replaces what gets forgotten—ideal conditions for selling a narrative. Let’s take a look back in time, shall we? A simple Google search reveals two episodes of civil unrest regarded as terrorism in California in the last twenty-five years. The Earth Liberation Front burned down a condominium under construction in San Diego. Ten years later, an attack on Pacific Gas & Electric’s Metcalf substation in Santa Clara County. That’s it. Two events, ecologically motivated, whose only victims were corporate property—not a World Trade Center or an Oklahoma City federal building.
In fact, ”eco-terrorism” in the United States has reportedly been on the decline since 2009 due to crackdowns by law enforcement. Nevermind school shootings—the second you threaten private property, you’re an enemy of the state. Meanwhile, from 2009 to 2019, PG&E was responsible for starting more than 1,500 fires in California, some deadly. Who matters more, people or property?
“Our own government came out and said that we are the most corrupt government in the country because of the waste, fraud and abuse that runs rampant.”
That’s a lie, Bianco. Anybody can check the World Population Review’s list of most corrupt states and find that out of all fifty, California ranks 24th. Almost exactly in the middle—not even among the top ten. Ironically, Washington state, which you claim is thriving on account of having no state income tax, placed tenth.
“[California sanctuary law] did absolutely nothing for Californians, and it did absolutely nothing for people who are here in this country illegally…It makes every community in California unsafe. It makes every sheriff and prison warden in this state release criminals back into the community to victimize us over and over and over again.”
I’m going to put this very simply, Bianco. Sanctuary laws protect immigrants. Immigrants still pay income tax. Taxes help fund the infrastructure everyone depends on. In just 2022, undocumented immigrants paid nearly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes. Therefore, at the very least, sanctuary laws are beneficial through that net-positive ripple effect.
As for your frankly racist claim that Sanctuary Cities enable crime by immigrants, let’s do some basic math. California’s population is around 40 million. There are roughly 11 million immigrants living in the state, a little more than a quarter of the total population. Only 2.5 million are thought to be undocumented, which is only 6.25%. And you still think they’re here to replace white people and take their jobs?
Once, after a trip to Tijuana, I was re-entering the United States. The line at the border was so long, a wait at the DMV seemed lesser. It seemed a hell of a lot of people around me were immigrating legally. The crisis of so-called “illegal immigration” is total horseshit. Besides, studies consistently show that immigrant adults are incarcerated less frequently than their U.S. born counterparts.
Mr. Chud Bianco, we know you’re a poser with nothing to offer but more of the same tired, failed politics that keep California stuck in the past. Do us a favor and kiss a rattlesnake.
* I, Jake, know nothing about the stock market, and as someone likely to stay broke, have absolutely no interest in hearing about it.
