LaMalfa says Stiner ad is more than a ploy — it’s a lie

Claiming an opponent is “too scared” to debate is an old political ploy. Congressional candidate Max Steiner’s new attack ad against Congressman Doug LaMalfa is more than a ploy, it’s an outright lie.

An email with the Butte County League of Women Voters shows a forum date that has been in discussion for a week. It was the Steiner campaign that had not responded to the League on date suggestions from the LaMalfa campaign. The LaMalfa campaign had responded to an earlier date suggestion by the League that was precluded due to a previously scheduled Congressional Western Caucus energy conference out of state. The campaign was working on dates with the Butte County League of Women Voters prior to this deceptive ad airing, and the Steiner campaign was notified and hadn’t responded, but ran the ad anyway.

“Doug LaMalfa has always participated in at least one voter forum, even in instances when his Democrat opponent didn’t show up,”  said LaMalfa consultant Dave Gilliard. “Of course, Max Steiner wouldn’t know that because he never lived in the district until he moved from Adam Schiff’s Los Angeles district to Chico in May of 2021 for the purpose of running against LaMalfa. This is just another long line of false attacks and half-truths by Democrat candidates over the years. The fact that an offer was on the table before this ad even went on the air and it was the Steiner campaign that hadn’t responded makes it pretty suspicious they were more focused on running this false ad than a good faith effort to set a date.”