Cox taking on Valadao. No public debates but duo wages battle through press releases

Cox took direct aim at Valadao’s reluctance to attend town halls and debates, while Valadao recently announced, via press release, that Stratford, a Kings County community recently ravaged by failing water wells, will receive a federal grant totaling $1,000,000, while also boasting about President Donald Trump’s recent executive memorandum promoting the “reliable supply and delivery of water in California and the entire western United States.”

On Thursday, Cox announced that he would “commit to hold at least four public town halls each year of his term,” if elected to Congress. He cited Valadao’s reluctance to attend town forums or engage in public debates. Cox has attempted to bring Valadao to the debate stage, promoting at least six events he said Valadao would not attend.

The six events Cox cites include forums in Arvin, Lamont, Coalinga, Radio Bilingue, and ABC debate and Fox 26 gathering. “I’ve attended over 50 public events across the district in the past three months,” boasted Cox. “My parents taught me that the first thing that I need to do, no matter what I take on, is to show up,” he said.

He added that voters are worried about health care, putting food on the table, clean drinking water, and they want answers. “People here in the Central Valley feel that their voices have gone unheard too long. That’s why I pledge to hold at least four public town halls in each year of my term.”

He invited Valadao to join him in the pledge.

Valadao, during the past two years, particularly during the debate about health care in 2017, has been reluctant to host any forums. Instead, in 2017, he held brief 10-minute meetings with constituents in the sanctity of his district office.

The Leader has attempted to contact Valadao’s office several times for a direct response from the local congressman but has been unsuccessful.

However, just days before the election, Congressman Valadao announced that Stratford, a community that watched as its main supply of water slow to a trickle when its wells failed this past summer, will be the recipient of federal grant funding in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 to ensure the community has access to adequate, clean water supplies.

“After two public wells failed in Stratford this past August, ensuring the community had the funding needed to repair their water infrastructure was absolutely critical,” he stated in a release this week. “As I continue working to improve our water infrastructure, I am pleased this community will have access to a clean, safe, and reliable water supply.”

The Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant is administered by the Office of Rural Development, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. USDA Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants help eligible communities, such as Stratford, prepare, or recover from, an emergency that threatens the availability of safe, reliable drinking water.

It’s unclear how Trump’s executive action will end the constant tug of war between growers and environmentalists, but Valadao, in his Oct. 22 release, said Trump’s action “puts in place a strict timetable for rewriting the biological opinions that lie at the root of the water crisis.” He added that the order prioritizes building critical projects to expand water storage in California so that more water is stored during wet years for use in dry years.