Local Stories by Local People
updated: Nov 06, 2012, 11:14 AM

Since Abel Maldonado announced his plans to run for congress, his 6,000-acre farm in Santa Maria has had three Cal/OSHA citations for issues regarding employee safety.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

ROGER DODGER	2012-11-06 11:20 AM
Good time to tell us.
COMMENT 339638	2012-11-06 11:23 AM
Bye Lois.
COMMENT 339644P	2012-11-06 11:26 AM
638: Lois Capps is a hard working, honest public servant who earned my vote. I hope you can deal well with your disappointment when she wins again.
COMMENT 339645	2012-11-06 11:27 AM
No wonder he wants smaller govt. Crooks always want fewer rules to get away with their crooked ways.
COMMENT 339646	2012-11-06 11:27 AM
I don't care who wins this race, their commericals just annoyed the hell of out me.
COMMENT 339648	2012-11-06 11:29 AM
646 totally agree So SICK of seeing BOTH of them on TV
COMMENT 339653	2012-11-06 11:33 AM
I hope Maldonado loses. He is a man with no human conscience. How else do you explain this: "In 2010, Cal/OSHA cited Agro-Jal four times for running unmanned tractors and for failing to provide adequate access to shade or water for employees." Folks, I bet none of us has ever had to work out there in the hot sun, sunrise to sunset, just for enough food to feed our families. To deny human beings the basic essentials of life--water and a little shade in 100+ degree heat--is the mark of a sociopath.
COMMENT 339655P	2012-11-06 11:35 AM
I thought about voting for Abel - until I got all the Lois hate-mail. It is absolutely unbelievable that he would waste so much money and resources on SO MANY ads against her in the mail!! I'm talking 13-15 in one week. That's disgusting. I'd rather have a politician that spent their advertising money telling me about what THEY'RE going to do - not on ads berating the opponent. It's childish.
COMMENT 339656P	2012-11-06 11:36 AM
Just another reason he's going down hard in this election! Why do we all find out on election day? Hmmmmm
COMMENT 339659P	2012-11-06 11:39 AM
655P - Completely agree! The Maldo hate mail clogged up our box to the point where we too were done with him due to the daily crap his campaign & Republican PACS were tossing. Just another reason I'd NEVER donate 1¢ to a political campaign!
ROGER DODGER	2012-11-06 11:48 AM
I voted for Lois also..
COMMENT 339679	2012-11-06 12:03 PM
Lois!
BECKY	2012-11-06 12:05 PM
Public campaign finance is the solution, as well as a shortened election season. The reason so many politicians do primarily negative ads is that they work. Tell the campaigns they have the opposite effect on you, and that you will never vote for a candidate who spends more time talking about what's wrong with the other guy, than who tells you what their philosophy is, and what they intend to do. Then consider joining RootStrikers.org . It can only change if we all demand the change.
COMMENT 339694	2012-11-06 12:08 PM
In all fairness, probably most businesses have been cited by Cal-OSHA if that organization finds the time to visit them. The list of things they can cite you for is endless. Have any injuries occurred? Any deaths or exposure to pesticide? That would be a real story. Another real story would be to examine Abel's claim that he is a jobs creator. If his business is a family farm, my guess is that the jobs he created are primarily minimum wage-benefitless jobs. If true, that would be important for people to know, don't you think? Maybe someday there will be a real newspaper or TV station in town that will actually go out and report on stories like this.
COMMENT 339696P	2012-11-06 12:09 PM
Another cheap shot by Lois and her slimy campaign. Most large farming businesses have Cal/OSHA complaints against them at any given time. It should be obvious that Maldonado's was singled out just before the election to help out Lois. Her campaign was far more negative against Maldonado. The ads I've seen do nothing but bash Maldonado on a personal level and do not talk about what Lois has done for her constituents in 14 years, because she has done nothing for them at all.
COMMENT 339707	2012-11-06 12:18 PM
yawn
COMMENT 339734	2012-11-06 12:35 PM
Bye Abel. I don't think you will be Abel to win. Yes, that was totally snarky!
COMMENT 339802	2012-11-06 01:14 PM
Typical Republican, crapping on the small guy.
COMMENT 339820	2012-11-06 01:30 PM
Lois is the WOMAN! Abel go bye bye!
SBJULES	2012-11-06 01:56 PM
To the person that wondered if anyone was hurt in the ranch. Yes, someone was killed.
SUMMERTIME	2012-11-06 02:01 PM
Lois got my vote...
COMMENT 339849	2012-11-06 02:01 PM
Lois Capps does an amazing job. Anyone who thinks she doesn't probably doesn't really understand her job or the fact that she works for the good of the people and not herself, unlike most politicians. She's done a LOT of good for our area and I hate to see her reputation trashed by people who think that only THEIR interests should be served by a politician and not the good of the many. Maldonado ran a horrible campaign and he doesn't deserve to win based on that alone but also his record has been for HIM and not the people.
COMMENT 339886	2012-11-06 02:55 PM
Now post the Capps story from the independent ....
COMMENT 339908	2012-11-06 03:21 PM
Who cares what they said about each other or how much money was wasted on mail. You are not voting for Capps or Maldonado, you are voting D or R.
COMMENT 339932	2012-11-06 04:34 PM
849 thinks politicians work for the people and not themselves...*smirk*
COMMENT 339987	2012-11-06 07:45 PM
Abel is going to pull some Hispanic vote from Capps.
COMMENT 339989	2012-11-06 08:06 PM
932, no. I said Lois Capps works for the people she represents. Not politicians. Smirk all you want, but that was exactly my whole point.
COMMENT 340020P	2012-11-07 06:15 AM
Lois won handily. No informed Hispanic would vote for Abel and the Republican platform which takes a hard line on immigration. Go home Abel and sort out your taxes.
COMMENT 340068	2012-11-07 09:15 AM
Like most politicians dedicated to looking after themselves rather than their constituents, both are liars. This campaign was an embarrassment. Our government in Washington is an embarrassment. That we have allowed ourselves to be put in the financial predicament we are in by the government should make us all feel embarrassed, as well. Rather than serving the country, public officials now make war on the welfare of the citizenry to further their own benefits. To see services cut and taxes increased so that pensions can be funded should make us all angry.
JUSTICE3	2012-11-07 09:22 PM
Well said 068 - watching the two of them spend thousands and thousands of dollars running dueling ads on television about one another's personal tax returns was appalling. Not a hint of any substantive issue being addressed - neither has shown any legislative or leadership ability - rather, a numbing demonstration of the evil of two lessers.

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