A mailer paid for by the Silicon Valley Organization’s PAC attacking San Jose City Council candidate Kalen Gallagher is getting attention, and not because of the accusations it made against the candidate. The SVO photo shopped an image of Gallagher taken from his Instagram account. The original photo is a selfie of Gallagher pointing to his “I voted” sticker. The photo shopped image seen on the mailer has the “I voted” sticker removed and is cropped to make it look as if Gallagher is flipping off the camera.
This is not the first time in recent history the SVO, formerly the Silicon Valley Chamber Commerce, has taken this below the belt approach in its mail pieces. In 2016, the Chamber attempted to paint Josh Barousse, a candidate for San Jose City Council District 8, as someone who “represents everything wrong with politics” because he “got a ticket for using his cell phone while driving.” The mailer was thought to be so petty that Pat Waite, another contender for the same seat said, in a letter published in the Evergreen Times that “I have returned the contribution that the Chamber made to my campaign, and will no longer use their endorsement in my materials.”
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