Opinion of the Daily Post
Ray Mueller is the Post’s choice for the Board of Supervisors over Laura Parmer-Lohan.
In the decade he’s served on the Menlo Park City Council, Mueller has been a problem-solver. He’s not afraid to jump into difficult issues and attempt to bring people together.
One of the problems with his opponent, Parmer-Lohan, is that she doesn’t have many accomplishments in her four years on the San Carlos City Council. She’s treating her council seat as a stepping stone to higher office.
Parmer-Lohan is also getting a lot of advice from outgoing supervisor Don Horsley. It feels at times like she’s his puppet. What will happen when she has to make decisions on her own without Horsley whispering into her ear?
Parmer-Lohan has been searching for an issue to use against Mueller. So she picked abortion, and emphasized that she has been endorsed by the local branch of Planned Parenthood. But, as it turns out, Mueller has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and has been endorsed by more than 50 female officeholders. Parmer-Lohan should have done her homework before attacking Mueller.
She was also a big supporter of a proposed parcel tax to stop climate change that Horsley and the rest of the Board of Supervisors were so gung-ho about earlier this year. It was unbelievable that they were pushing this tax at a time of historically high gas prices and inflation over 8%. But she followed their lead without thinking through the issue on her own. Then the supervisors abandoned the tax after a poll found that people wouldn’t vote for it. The episode showed that Parmer-Lohan is more likely to follow the county’s political leadership than think through an issue on her own. It also shows she’s not going to listen to the people if she gets elected.
On the other hand, we’ve watched Mueller throughout his career in public office and believe he will continue to listen to his constituents and work to solve their problems. In this race, the choice is easy — Ray Mueller for county supervisor.
Ray Mueller’s conduct throughout this campaign, and his political service history, have been unimpeachable. Parmer-Lohan has latched onto larger issues like climate change and women’s rights hoping to create a false contrast in positions with Mueller. This comes at the expense of specifics around her own plans on issues important to San Mateo County residents, Apparently character attacks, inane campaign slogans, and gender bias are what your get when you have little in the way of substantive accomplishments, plans, and experience.