Seriously, Esther?

Is this what it's come to in the CA-40 race? Is this really what it's come to?

Joe Kerr: Factually, a retired firefighter captain.

So I recently decided I would be largely done with chronicling the wacky and wild exploits of Esther Kim Varet on this website.

The CA-40 congressional candidate and one-time presumptive frontrunner has run what I would describe—politely—as an erratic campaign, and even though one of this site’s major purposes is to bring down Orange County’s zaniest Republicans (We see you, Gracey Van Der Mark!), it’s been hard to ignore Esther’s remarkable real-time implosion from, “Maybe she can do this!” to “Dad, why is that person trying to eat our muffler?”

But, well, I kinda figured enough was enough was enough, and the time had come to move on.

Then, however …

Yesterday, the Orange County Register’s Kaitlyn Schallhorn bylined a piece with the headline, IN A CALIFORNIA CONGRESSIONAL RACE, THERE’S A FIGHT OVER WHETHER A CANDIDATE CAN BE CALLED ‘RETIRED’ ON THE BALLOT. And, according to the article, Esther recently, “filed a legal challenge to former Democratic contender Joe Kerr’s suggested ballot designation of ‘retired firefighter captain.’”

Here, from Schallhorn’s excellent story …

Technically and legally, Esther is probably right. Kerr has, it seems, held other positions since wrapping his career battling blazes. Wrote Schallhorn: “According to the court filing, Kerr served as director and secretary for Rapid Response to Carbon Ignition, a Nevada-based company that works in emergency wildfire consulting, from 2020 to 2023. Kerr said this was a startup company to which he provided subject matter expertise on wildfire cameras in California. This was in correlation to the work he did as a fire captain, Kerr said.”

So … yeah. Maybe Esther will win this one. Maybe Joe Kerr will have to change his ballot ID designation and lose the buzz of being viewed by voters as a firefighter.

But at what further cost to Esther’s reputation?

Truly, at what cost?

Upon initially being forwarded the Register article, I turned to my dog Poppy and muttered, “You must be fucking kidding me.” Like, it’s just so tacky. So rinky-dink and lame and tone-deaf. I get it: Esther’s campaign has sputtered, the post-Prop 50 CA-40 isn’t what she signed up for, and she’s worried about losing votes to someone (appealingly) identified as a “retired firefighter captain.” But to accuse Joe Kerr of wrongdoing—when Esther literally relocated (aka: carpetbagged) to Orange County to run for (what she thought would be) a winnable congressional seat—is the height of hypocrisy and inanity. Also, not for nothing, Kerr isn’t lying, per se. He is, factually, a retired firefighter captain. A pretty bad-ass job. The debate here isn’t his history, it’s political semantics.

But, for the sake of this website, it’s once again the saga of an out-of-her-depths vagabond candidate desperately trying to tear opponents apart, without having the political savvy to understand the wise way to do so. If the matter is really so important to Esther; if she genuinely believes Joe Kerr shouldn’t be identified on the ballot as “retired firefighter captain”—for Christ’s sake, don’t allow the stench to stick to your clothes. Have someone else handle it. An operative. An intermediary. Anyone but you. Because now, you’re (correctly) tarring yourself as the out-of-towner trying to come around and besmirch a well-known public servant for personal gain.

It’s not kind, it’s not generous, it’s not civic-minded and it’s not politically intelligent.

It’s just ugly.

Unnecessarily ugly.