The bottom line is:
• Dr. Cofer, who has a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and is a public health expert, provided documents to back up her designation request; a judge said the title might be inadvertently “misleading” and directed Dr. Cofer to call herself an “Epidemiologist,

Public Health” instead. The judge found NO misconduct on her part. This game of titles can disadvantage women and people of color, who often are not recognized for significant academic and professional accomplishments.
• The FPPC complaint, filed by the same person represented by the same law firm, seeks to discredit Dr. Cofer’s long history of volunteering her professional expertise to the community on an unpaid basis. She reported every penny of actual income required by
the FPPC. What does it say about people who think it’s not real if professional services are sometimes provided for free?

The first mailer identifies its funders as the “Alliance to Support the Middle Class”—a noble- sounding independent expenditure committee—whose major funders are the International

Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 340 and something called the “Sacramento Area Policy Committee”. This is all voters are told unless you know how to get to the Secretary of State’s campaign finance disclosure portal and find additional information. How many voters do that?
The most recent reports, filed three months ago, reveal that the Alliance had already spent over $50,000 in that period supporting Dr. Cofer’s opponent, and all of its contributors were real estate and homebuilders’ interests and the IBEW local (a building trades union), who donated between $25,000 and $50,000 each. The so-called “Sacramento Area Policy Committee” had no recent filings, so how much it contributed could not be determined, but the Bee says it is tied to the legal firm that represented the complainant. Additional mailers identify some funders as the same interests above; the same committees and business entities are funding attractive, positive mailers for Dr. Cofer’s opponent. In calling out the phony attacks, Hernandez said, “We are tired. Women leaders, and Women
of Color, in particular, are tired of watching our degrees, our expertise, and our years of service picked apart as if they were lies. Dr. Cofer earned her doctorate. She earned her title. Questioning it is not “scrutiny”. It is the same old message that women like her don’t belong
in positions of power, and that no amount of accomplishment will ever be enough. “We call on those perpetrating this campaign to put an end to this attack, and to publicly and fully identify ALL contributors who funded it. We call on Dr. Cofer’s opponent to disavow this
attack as unfair, sexist, and racist, and to call on those conducting it to cease and desist. We understand he does not control these dark money independent expenditures—but he can speak out against them. His silence speaks too.” “And we call on the men in leadership across our region, including elected officials, party leaders, labor and community leaders, and others, to stand with us. It should not take women asking, once again, for men of conscience to say out loud that racist and sexist attacks are wrong. We are still fighting for full equality in a society that has not yet fully accepted it. We should not have to carry this fight alone. Your voices matter here. Use them.”
Attack campaigns are nothing new, but recent studies show they disproportionately target women candidates. Sometimes they work, because they play on the old doubts about whether women, and especially women of color, are qualified to lead. Women are speaking up to ensure that the voters of Sacramento County see through and reject this assault on truth and fairness.

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