Michael Masuda talks with people at street fairs, farmers markets, town hall events and many more venues – including a remote recorded interview with The Modesto Focus, the basis for this news item.
The time was reserved for a debate between Democrat Masuda and Republican incumbent Tom McClintock to help voters become acquainted with candidates for California’s 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But McClintock did not respond to invitations to debate, just as he didn’t before the June primary, so Masuda was afforded space again to briefly make his case to potential voters.
“That is the job: making sure that I am available to people,” Masuda said, noting 37 or 38 public town hall events his campaign has staged across the 5th District. The area includes most of Stanislaus County east of Highway 99, including much of Modesto and Turlock as well as Riverbank, Oakdale, Hughson and Waterford – and several Gold Country foothill counties to the east.
“Tom McClintock doesn’t show up,” Masuda said. “He doesn’t hold town halls. He’s not willing to take candid questions from constituents and be held accountable for his votes in Congress and the language that he uses.”
In 10 minutes, Masuda outlined his top priorities – health care and wildfire insurance – and addressed other issues like controversial data centers, which McClintock has spoken about favorably.
Masuda, on the other hand – a former federal government engineer who worked on artificial intelligence and surveillance technology – is wary about them. AI conglomerates who made a “handshake deal with the president” lie to get what they want and “don’t care about us,” Masuda said.
Garth Stapley is the accountability reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact him at garth@themodestofocus.org.