A First Realistic Step Towards Getting Rid Of Devin Nunes Is Getting Rid Of Devon Mathis In An Overlapping District-- Meet Blue America's Latest Endorsee, Drew Phelps

A week ago, we took a look at California's worst state legislator, Devon Mathis. Since then, I've had dozens of people asking me-- or telling me-- about his Democratic opponent, Drew Phelps. And, by popular demand-- as well as our own vetting-- today Blue America is officially endorsing young Mr. Phelps. Please consider contributing to his campaign to represent the Central Valley Assembly district that encompasses Tulare and Inyo counties (and a tiny bit of Kern County)-- AD-26-- by clicking on the 2020 state legislatures thermometer below.

Phelps told me that he's a 4th-generation Tularean-- as well as a healthcare advocate, and an affordable housing specialist running to bring much-needed change and progressive leadership to California's 26th Assembly District. In 2015, he actively led and organized residents of the district with the grassroots Citizens for Hospital Accountability, a diverse coalition of local activists fed up with the financial and legal mismanagement of the Tulare Regional Medical Center. After two years of constant organizing, Citizens for Hospital Accountability defeated a bond measure that would have funneled millions of dollars of public dollars to private healthcare interests, and successfully recalled all five members of the Hospital’s Board of Directors.

Currently, he told me "there are over 80 combined felony and misdemeanor counts against three executives who had been running the Tulare Regional Medical Center into the ground. The seeds of those charges were planted when the Citizens for Hospital Accountability contacted the Tulare County District Attorney to investigate possible wrongdoing." That's the kind of grassroots leadership Blue America looks for in candidates.

Previously, Drew served as the Director of Grant Oversight with the Manuel Torrez Family Resource Center, bringing in funding for the Center’s “Healthy Families, Happy Kids” initiative, as well as helping organize the program’s annual mobile health clinic and fair. His other volunteer experience in the South Valley includes directing a soccer camp for underserved youth and coordinating healthy food distributions for working families.

Phelps has deep roots in the community, being the grandson of the former mayor of Tulare and has been active in politics since childhood, knocking on his first door for a city council candidate at the age of 12. He is a lifelong Democrat from a family that has a progressive pedigree that focuses on solving local issues by building broad coalitions of working people.

His campaign is supported by a broad coalition of labor unions, progressive advocacy organizations, and local activists and elected leaders. His emphasis will be on basic quality of life issues that have plagued the residents of AD 26 for years. It is estimated that over 10,000 residents don’t have access to clean drinking water. In some cases it is because wells have gone dry and in others contaminated runoff have poisoned the water to the point that it is less safe to drink than what is coming out of the tap in Flint, Michigan.

Assembly District 26 is in an area of California that consistently lags other parts of California in terms of measures of economic growth, unemployment levels, air and water quality, educational attainment, and access to basic medical services. Drew is running to replace an incumbent-- the aforementioned Devon Mathis-- who is wholly ineffective when it comes to dealing with these issues and has no notable achievements in his six years in office.

When elected, Phelps promised me he will be laser-focused on addressing the drinking water issues, delivering quality healthcare options, and diversifying job opportunities-- all of which have been ignored for too long under his opponent's leadership. Drew Phelps will be a champion on the issues that matter most to the folks in his district, not the Sacramento special interests that support his opponent.

Worst California State Legislator? Is Anyone Worse Than Devon ("Proud White Guy")?

Everyone following politics throughout the nation has no doubt heard of Devin Nunes, his ridiculous hackery is legendary at this point. One interesting fact about Nunes is that his district overlaps with that of another terrible Devon whose name is nearly unknown outside of Sacramento-- Devon Mathis in California Assembly District 26, a chunk of the Central Valley, primarily Tulare County with sparsely populated Inyo County and a small piece of Kern County, the Kern River Valley.

In 2017, while Devin Nunes was colluding with the Russians on Trump's behalf, Devon Mathis made headlines in 2017 after reports came out that he allegedly assaulted a female member of his staff. A Sacramento Police Department investigation quickly wrapped up a month later with no charges filed. However, Mathis lost staff and his former chief of staff filed a lawsuit alleging he was fired after raising concerns about inappropriate behavior by Mathis.

In 2018, while Nunes was stepping up his collusion with Moscow, Mathis was sued by his former district director alleging sexual harassment and unfair pay practices. The California Assembly Rules Committee disciplined Mathis in 2018 for violating sexual harassment policy but gave so few details about the incident, that it is unknown whether the probe had been related to the staffer’s lawsuit. The only detail given was that the sexual harassment took the form of "sexual 'locker room talk'."

In a more recent scandal, Mathis was forced to donate $14,000 to charity from his campaign committee after serious criminal charges were leveled at Dr. Yorai Benzeevi, an executive who ran Healthcare Conglomerate Associates (HCCA). HCCA was the organization that had been donating-- as in bribing-- at least $14,000 to Mathis.

Mathis was approached by a local group called Citizens for Hospital Accountability who asked that Mathis request an audit of HCCA due to possible mismanagement of the Tulare Regional Medical Center. Mathis at first refused to request an audit, having been overheard once saying that he could not request an audit because he "owed Dr. Beenzeevi a favor." Mathis has, at this point, still not been arrested for taking bribes.

Later, Mathis signed a letter of support for an audit that had been requested by Senator Jean Fuller, but that support came nearly three years after the initial audit had been requested by local activists-- and after HCCA was removed as the hospital’s manager. Devon’s inaction let a bad situation deteriorate to the point that the Tulare Regional Medical Center was nearly closed on a permanent basis. Since then, the man to whom Mathis owed the favor, Dr. Benzeevi, has been charged with 40 felonies including counts of money laundering, conspiracy, embezzlement, and grand theft.

At this point you might be asking, how can Devon Mathis act as an effective legislator amid such extensive personal and professional scandal? The answer is-- he just doesn’t get much done. He delivers nearly nothing for the people in his district and has in fact continually voted against their interests. In the most recent legislative session, he was only able to get one of his thirty-seven bills passed and he has missed nearly 1,000 votes since first being sworn in in 2014.

Relating to the current pandemic, Mathis is one of the most prominent anti-vaccine leaders in the California Assembly. He refused to support a measure meant to provide additional funding to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and opposed efforts to require that hospitals furnish personal protective equipment (PPE) and that employees use the equipment supplied. He was also a trailblazer in putting children at risk, calling for schools to reopen in mid-May of 2020. Friday Tulare reported 95 new cases, bringing the county total to 13,117, with 210 already dead.

"Proud white guy"

As a cherry on top, there he was in 2019 on the floor of the Assembly saying that he is "a proud white guy" in response to his Black peers describing their experiences with law enforcement profiling. We’re sure everyone on the floor was happy he wanted that entered into the record in responses to valid critiques of poor police practices. 

Devon Mathis can truly be described as one of the worst legislators in Sacramento, on both a personal and professional level. His opponent, Tulare Democrat Drew Phelps, is someone we are in the midst of vetting right now... but so far, the process is going well as I feel in my gut we'll have an announcement coming in the next week or two about that.