This Unholy Mess

If you have been following recent developments in the legal struggles of 5th District Supervisor Belia Ramos to keep her family matters private, you know that sleazy political vendettas are alive and well in Napa County. Supervisor Ramos has recently been subjected to fallout from the public disclosure of documents from a Solano County Social Welfare Agency that were, according to a court order, to remain private.
The legal details about how they found their way into the public realm to one side, there is not much doubt that the entire adventure was set up as a smear campaign. It is, in fact, a twofer. On the one hand, a vindictive ex-husband is a richly-plausible source of such an attack; on the other, Napa County’s wine industry advocacy groups are not pleased with Supervisor Ramos’s principled votes against certain winery and vineyard development projects in the last few years, given the new environment we live in, i.e., one that requires urgent action to protect watersheds and limited water resources, among other priorities. Organizations such as the Napa County Farm Bureau and the Napa Valley Grape Growers have no use for her.
Given this background, it is not a huge surprise to see this very private, personal issue burst into view. What is a bit surprising is that the Napa Register should get in on the act and become a bullhorn for the hit job.
In a July 13 editorial, Editor Dan Evans lays out his reasoning as to why he chose to print some parts of the document in question. In the process, he tells us that he “strongly believes in transparency and openness,” but, curiously, refrains from telling us who supplied him with the document in the first place, saying only that it “came to him” in late January. He says the supplier was not Debra Dommen, an estranged friend of Ramos’s who is the vice president for government and industry affairs at Treasury Wine Estates. So who was it? This is very significant stuff, since identifying the source would allow the public to know the degree to which politics is driving this smear. My guess is: a lot.
Mr. Evans asserts that the Register has “balanced the interests of the public with the relevant privacy concerns” by refraining to print the names or genders of Ramos’s children. This seems disingenuous in a place as small as Napa Valley. Once this story was in the local news, the family was going to suffer. Is this story so valuable to the public that it is worth the grief it causes, a story that was spoon-fed to the media by people searching for ways to damage Ramos?
And is the whole matter truly “of public interest,” anyway? It is not about official corruption/malfeasance, or violation of an oath of office, as are, for instance, charges pending against Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza, involving his family’s acquisition of a large land parcel from one of his largest campaign contributors at a sweetheart price. Now that is “of public interest.” It directly affects the voter/tax payer and the integrity they expect from their local government. Can the same be said of a bitter, unfortunate post-divorce family battle?
It is tempting to dig into the possible identities of those involved in this shameful smear, but that is really the job of the media at this point. I don’t think the Register has the resources to explore this in depth, just as they could not chase the details of the Pedroza case. But there are all kinds of tempting clues out there, just waiting to be explored. For example, how amazing that the Farm Bureau’s Facebook page should have included a photo, almost exactly two years ago, of five smiling people, arms around each other’s shoulders, enjoying a function at Louis Martini Winery. Who are these pals? From left to right: Jeri Hansen, now CEO of the Napa Chamber of Commerce,; the late Ryan Klobas, then CEO of the Farm Bureau; Brian Bennett, ex-husband of Supervisor Ramos; Debra Dommen of Treasury Estates (and emphatically NOT the person who passed on the child services letter to the Register); and last but not least, Minh Tran, ex-CEO of Napa County, who is currently suing the county regarding the terms of his departure. He had been known to clash with Supervisor Ramos on a variety of issues.
Anybody up for an investigation?