As Chairman of the Kings County Board of Supervisors, my main priority has always been serving those I represent regardless of political affiliation.
The people of Kings County demand our leaders act practically and reach across the political aisle to solve the problems facing our community. Congressman TJ Cox, however, has again and again failed this key test of leadership.
Cox has done nothing to work with our Supervisors.
On many issues, the hands of our local government officials are tied, and we must turn to our congressional leaders for help.
Sadly, officeholders across the Valley go unheard, ignored, and mistreated, and our constituents suffer as a result of their Congressman’s hyper-partisan indifference.
In a telling move, upon being sworn into Congress, Cox closed the congressional office in Hanford that so many residents in and around Kings County relied on for years.
I can only surmise that Cox sees Kings County as an electoral stronghold for his political opponent and views spending congressional resources in Kings Country as a political waste. But I know that every constituent in each town in the 21st District is important and deserves to be heard by their Congressman.
It is malpractice that Cox would so blatantly neglect the heart of his district.
The people of Kings County are being abused by our Congressman. While we pay his salary, Cox actively works against our interests. Two years in office have made it clear that his values are not our values.
Look no further than the organizations that endorse Cox. One of his closest allies is Indivisible, an ultra-progressive organization founded and run by East Coast liberal elites that works to divide communities and denigrate law enforcement officers.
Troublingly, Cox is also endorsed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a radical environmentalist group that makes millions suing Valley farmers, stealing the water we are rightfully entitled to, and cynically prioritizing the needs of three-inch bait fish above the needs Valley families.
Instead of using his power as Congressman to work with local officials to better our community, Cox has used his power to advance the Democrats’ radical policy agenda and protect his personal interests.
Cox has voted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time.
This is the same Speaker who has fought to keep hair salons closed for everyone but herself and refused to approve $1.6 trillion in COVID-19 relief funding because the funds will be used to help small businesses and families weather the pandemic rather than bailout poorly-run Democrat states like California.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cox bullied the National Park Service so his family could vacation in Yosemite.
With multiple unpaid tax liens filed against him, he blocked legislation that would hold Members of Congress accountable for paying taxes. Taxpayer-funded vacations and tax avoidance – those are Cox’s values.
To add insult to injury, TJ Cox doesn’t even live in our Congressional District.
He asks us to vote for him, but he can’t even vote for himself.
When he’s working with those set to destroy our livelihoods and way of life, he is unaffected because it isn’t his way of life, it isn’t his livelihood, and it isn’t his home under attack.
Where TJ Cox fails our community, David Valadao fights for our community. David has lived in Hanford his entire life.
He’ll work with anyone to help the Central Valley as evidenced by his bipartisan record. David worked across the aisle in effort to secure Central Valley families and farmers their rightful share of water, reform our broken immigration system, and provide quality healthcare to our nation’s veterans.
He fights against NRDC and groups like them who seek to destroy our communities.
While in Congress, David Valadao kept offices in Hanford and Bakersfield, because he knows that every voice matters. He also regularly held satellite office hours in Fresno and Tulare Counties and held telephone town halls so he could speak to those who live across the 21st District.
He made himself available to constituents and local officials whether he was in D.C. or at home in the Valley.
Without David Valadao’s leadership, the 21st District has suffered under an inept and corrupt Congressman. We need to elect David Valadao in November and get back to work.
