I. Local Fox News Affiliate Turns Away As Retired High School Teacher Questions Rep. Mike Thompson About Israel's Genocide; II. A Watershed Moment In West Marin As Latino Workers Speak Up

III. New MCOE Board Member Nancy McCarthy forces meeting cancellation with a “No” vote; IV. Update on AD14 Democratic Party delegate fiasco; V. Another recall petition in Fairfax.

I. Will The Real Mike Thompson Please Stand Up?

Representative Mike Thompson (4th Congressional District including Lake, Napa, and parts of Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo) carries with him a reassuring and competent presence that seems ready-made for cable news. Trim and virile, the 74-year-old looks and feels “presidential”. Thompson conveys this so effectively to his Party that he was selected by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to serve as the “designated survivor” during President Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 4.

You don’t gain that kind of trust on the cheap: Thompson voted tightly in line with former President Biden’s stated positions throughout the 117th congress, including positions on foreign policy.

But a younger Thompson had not hewn so closely to (then-Senator) Biden. In 2002, Thompson, then in his early fifties, had traveled to Iraq on a fact-finding mission during the run-up to the US invasion, and he expressed skepticism about the claim that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. This was, in fact, distinct from the position that Biden took on Iraq, despite Biden’s later claims that he had “always” opposed the Iraq War.

Then, in 2012, just ten years after that mission to Iraq, Thompson demanded health benefits for the over 6,000 US military veterans subjected to the Defense Department’s chemical weapons testing in Project 112 (1962-1974). Per Thompson’s office, the chemicals that US military personnel were subjected to by their own government included: Vx Nerve Gas, Sarin Nerve Gas, and E. coli, as detailed in the press release (full copy linked here) part of which is provided as a screenshot below:

With that demand, Thompson, a Vietnam veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart for his service in the 173rd Airborne, made clear that US military and US foreign policy has, at best, an uneven record, even toward its own soldiers. This makes his April 2024 vote to send an additional $26 Billion to Israel during a plausible genocide so much more disappointing.

And it was in his dual capacity as veteran and congressman that Thompson held, on March 7, a press conference outside a community clinic in Santa Rosa. Thompson wished to bring attention to the calamitous cuts that the Trump administration had made to veterans’ services, cuts which no reasonable person would support. But Thompson had to know that some attendees would have questions about his support for Israel.

Enter “Taxpayers Against Genocide”:

Retired schoolteacher Seth Donnelly is a veteran not of any wars but of 35 years of human rights work and several decades of teaching high school, during which time he was a much-loved teacher. And in the same way that Thompson's image fits a familiar type, Donnelly's earnestness is a throwback to an earlier, more confident vision the left once projected. But Donnelly’s unpretentious persona belies a disciplined and cogent writing style; he publishes regularly in various left-wing publications, is frequently interviewed in local and national media, and has published a book about human rights which is available in English and French.

Donnelly was a lead plaintiff in a well-argued (but now-dismissed) lawsuit filed by a group called “Taxpayers Against Genocide” (TAG) against Representatives Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman (2nd Congressional District, which includes Marin and most of Sonoma.) The lawsuit challenged Thompson’s and Huffman’s votes for an additional $26 Billion in military aid to Israel in April of 2024, months after the International Court of Justice had established that Israel was engaged in a plausible case of genocide in Gaza.

The lawsuit was dismissed in 2025, and thus it was in Donnelly’s capacity as a reporter for the bilingual publication Solidarity Springs that he appeared at Thompson’s press conference. Like many of the TAG plaintiffs, Donnelly has grown increasingly concerned about the fate of Palestinians in Gaza as the Israeli government has publicly bragged about cutting off not only all humanitarian aid, but also all electricity. That amounts to public bragging about a genocidal act, and it is deeply disturbing to many Americans that their government, regardless of Republican or Democratic administration, remains beholden to Israel’s cruel whims.

Consistent with his style, Donnelly waited until everyone else had spoken to ask his question, but Thompson immediately refused to answer, angrily claiming that Donnelly had filed a "frivolous" lawsuit against himself and Rep. Huffman, which prevented Thompson from answering Donnelly’s questions.

But Thompson knew that the lawsuit had been dismissed, and therefore there was nothing barring him from answering Donnelly’s questions, which were posed in such a general fashion as to allow Thompson ample room to answer.

And Thompson didn’t merely shut down the question, he insulted Donnelly, who has long served his community as a teacher, reporter, and activist, by claiming that Donnelly was not from “the legitimate press.” But even if Thompson wanted to claim that Counterpunch wasn’t “legitimate”, shouldn’t he take a question from a constituent?

The local Fox News affiliate was there to record the event, but no part of the encounter made it into their report. It does seem from the video that the Fox News cameraperson declined even to turn their camera onto Donnelly. This is part of a pattern of media ignoring or downplaying reporters’ questions that challenge US policy, and downplaying citizens’ resistance to US foreign and domestic policy. For example, the week after the Thompson-Donnelly encounter, thousands of protesters turned out on the streets of New York to protest the Trump administration's unlawful seizure of a Palestinian organizer, Mahmoud Khalil, but the size and scope of the protests were vastly underreported even on the news outlets that managed to include them.

Here’s the video of Thompson dismissing Donnelly’s questions, as recorded by Jason Sweeney, who deserves our thanks for archiving what Fox News and Rep. Thompson did not want you to see:

The Dismissed Suit Has Only Grown In Influence:

The TAG lawsuit was only filed after the plaintiffs had attempted for a year to contact and meet their congressional representatives “to persuade them to stop funding the genocide in Gaza.” Thus, in the fall of 2024, they formed TAG, which eventually included over 2,000 plaintiffs from 18 counties in Northern California – the territory covered by Representatives Huffman and Thompson.

On February 10, the case was dismissed by Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern California Federal District Court in San Francisco, who posited that the issue raised by the plaintiffs was political, not legal, which gave Chhabria an excuse not to hear it.

This dismissal had been predicted by TAG, which had already been formulating their next move: presenting their case to the UN Human Rights Council’s Periodic Review in April.

By that time, TAG organizers hope to have expanded the number of taxpayers in the lawsuit from well beyond the initial 2,000. It seems likely they will meet that goal.

Lois Pearlman has a great, concise overview of the case in its current state at Mondoweiss, I recommend reading it. I hope to continue updating as the April 7, 2025 UN appointment approaches.

II. A Watershed Moment In Marin

The negotiated closure of the ranches and dairies in West Marin has had a series of consequences, some predictable and some surprising. Back on January 11, I attended the discussion of the settlement (or at least what little of it the plaintiffs and defendants were willing to disclose) at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station (photo above). As I mentioned in that earlier report, the audience was almost entirely white, and the panelists were entirely white.

But standing on the periphery were a group of Latino workers holding protest signs. They had been totally left out of the settlement talks and now they were left out of the panel. Due to the ranch closures, most would be losing their jobs and their housing, and others feared deportation. During that January Town Hall, several workers told me that they were unwilling to take the risk of speaking even in public comment, which was understandable given the persistent threat of ICE to their communities.

So it was a treat to see many of the same workers and residents march confidently into the chambers of the Marin County Board of Supervisors last Tuesday to speak, in Spanish and English, on their own behalf. The occasion was the County’s decision to declare a shelter emergency, with a resolution allowing them to address “barriers to temporary housing solutions.” The immediate County focus is on the workers displaced by the ranch closure settlement negotiated by the (obscenely wealthy) nonprofit group, The Nature Conservancy. The appearance of these previously silent workers seemed to be a watershed moment, one that was apparently neither predicted nor desired by the environmentalists who brought forward the case against the ranchers.

But it seemed obvious to many of us working-class environmentalists that suddenly stripping Point Reyes of its workers was not only terrifying for the workers, but potentially ruinous for the land itself. Because once you strip the workers from the land, you have essentially stripped that last bit of resistance to what looms on the horizon: a potential privatization of the land under the Trump administration.

I was not able to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting in person last Tuesday, but watching remotely, I did not see Chance Cutrano speak at the meeting. The Tesla-driving, social-justice-spouting Mr. Cutrano, you will recall, is the former Fairfax mayor who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit that deprived the Latino workers both of their jobs and their housing with no contingency plans for their survival. How on earth was this ever considered acceptable?

There are a lot of moving parts to this particular story. One obvious question is: how committed is the County of Marin to the ability of these workers to stay on the land where many have lived for several generations, given the short three-year time frame of the resolution? Why was there so little attention paid by the County to these vulnerable workers during the previous four years?

Given some of the white nonprofit housing hustlers now attaching themselves to the effort, is it possible that the Latino workers will only be used as cover to create “housing” from which they will later be evicted?

When you are offered pledges of help from white officials who consistently voted for higher law enforcement budgets that targeted Latinos in Marin, just remember one thing: Get it in writing! For now I want to share some screen-grabbed excerpts of the County's own recording of the many excellent speakers.

Here’s Gabriel Romo, a lifelong Point Reyes resident:

Enrique: “I Am A Family Man”:

After Romo, Enrique spoke, representing workers from Rancho Martinelli. The full translation is available through the county video, but you don’t need proficiency in Spanish to read his urgency. Enrique was firm in both thanking the Board of Supervisors for taking this important step, and in stating that it was not enough. He spoke of the tremendous pressure families are facing due to the changes, not knowing their fate.

Enrique’s appeal should be heard by all of us who have used Point Reyes as our retreat without considering the workers who have kept the entire economy of the place running – not just the ranches but the stores, restaurants, and schools. And not just the economy as we define the term, but its root word, oikonomos, which originally referred to the management of households, implying something less coldly abstract, something more familial.

If only we could vote for these Marinites:

All of the speakers were excellent, and it is well worth your time to hear them out in full on the County recording, the resolution was Item 7.

III. New MCOE Board Member Nancy McCarthy Forces Cancellation of Meeting

What a treat to ride out twenty miles against the wind to the last MCOE Board meeting only to watch it be cancelled when new MCOE Board member Nancy McCarthy refused to vote to approve the agenda. (Three other Board members were absent, so there was no quorum, making McCarthy’s “no” vote so powerful.)

I admit that neither I nor anyone else had seen such a move pulled before at the County level. McCarthy’s reason for her “no” vote was that she felt that Superintendent Carroll had been less than forthcoming about details of the Oak Hill housing project, which she believes imperils the finances of the MCOE. Oak Hill is a very interesting project, and there should be robust and critical discussion about it. But her rationale was confusing: by forcing cancellation of the meeting, McCarthy further restrained the Board from discussion of anything, including placing Oak Hill on the agenda.

I spoke with Nancy McCarthy on Thursday morning about the cancellation, about Oak Hill, and several other issues. It was a revealing interview. I also received notice from John Carroll last Friday that the meeting has been rescheduled for tomorrow, March 17. I plan to ride back out to attend the rescheduled meeting despite the rain prediction, and am eager to report what ensues.

IV. Update on AD14 Democratic Delegate Voting Fiasco

Last week I reported on the AD14 Democratic delegate voting fiasco. I was not aware at the time that Brian Donahue’s Emeryville Tattler had reported a detail that I had only heard whispers of, and I share the link to his article here. It does look as though certain delegate slates were being assisted by “California Jobs and Justice” which appears to be funded by DMFI and DFI. Donahue included in the article this screenshot, which sent me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out how to research donors to private political parties (which the Democratic and Republican parties are.) I was generously consulted on this topic by several attorneys and former delegates who told me, sadly, that, unlike donations to candidates, donations to private political parties are much, much harder to research.

Mr. Donahue is, like me, obsessed with reporting things no one wants to know or hear about, so maybe give his website your attention if you’re interested in Emeryville.

V. Fairfax Recall

There is currently a recall effort in Fairfax against Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman. Which is to say, kind of… business as usual in Fairfax? As at MCOE, much of this originates in disagreements about housing plans. I was able to interview one of the recall organizers and am hoping to interview those opposing the planned recall for an upcoming article.

Thanks as always to patient readers for ideas, insights, and inspiration.

©️2025 Eva Chrysanthe