Coonerty Appointee Bullies County Health Officer

On January 14, the Board of Supervisors appointed Damon Bruder as the Third District appointee to the Syringe Services Program Advisory Commission, for a term to expire April 1, 2024, as recommended by Supervisor Ryan Coonerty. Bruder is an activist and self-professed former drug user who has been known for stridently expressing his beliefs about the Syringe Services Program at Board of Supervisors meetings, long before he was appointed to the SSP advisory commission.

On December 26, the Santa Cruz, CA: Keepin' It Real Twitter page used the disparaging photo of Rachel McCullough-Sanden with the following caption in a tweet: "The @sccounty will continue to fail as long as they continue their practice of hiring-employing incompetent persons...like this one".

Damon Bruder typed in response to the tweet: "Absolutely laughable". (see photo)

By including the county's Twitter handle in the tweet, Bruder assured that the County of Santa Cruz Twitter page would get a notification for his response.

Paige Concannon, who is a Santa Cruz County Republican Party Central Committee Member, also tweeted a reply to the Santa Cruz: CA, Keepin' It Real statement about McCullough-Sanden. Concannon tweeted: "I honestly thought that she was a preschool teacher. So many people, including the one next to her, were incredibly embarrassed and mortified by her actions. That was just an observation as a person sitting in the audience!"

Santa Cruz, CA: Keepin' It Real, which many call a hate blog, is published by a retired Soledad State Prison guard named Joe Netro, who posts anonymously to the blog as "Big Joe 77". The Syringe Services Program has been one of "Big Joe 77's" primary targets.

According to Joe Netro, he and Supervisor Coonerty have been corresponding through email. On December 30, "Big Joe 77" posted to the Santa Cruz, CA: Keepin' It Real Facebook page that Coonerty emailed him for his help on another issue relating to syringe exchange. (see photo)

"Big Joe 77" quoted Coonerty as saying: “Bruce McPherson (District 5) and I plan to bring an item to the Board opposing the HRC [Harm Reduction Coalition] application and will need your help to get a majority of the Board to take a stand on this important issue."

It is not clear if Supervisor Coonerty is aware specifically of Bruder's bullying of Rachel McCullough-Sanden on the blog, however considering the misogynistic and hostile environment at Santa Cruz, CA: Keepin' It Real, it is problematic that Coonerty is seeking Netro's "help".

Netro regularly harasses women as part of a pattern of character assassination. It is clear Netro targets women due to a very visible trend in the large number of disparaging photos he has posted of women and their bodies. Netro also posts pictures to disparage women's faces, including side by side comparisons with animals and monsters (see photos).

The women Netro targets are usually involved with syringe exchange services, or homeless advocacy of some sort. Ongoing targets of Netro's include Mimi Hall, the Director of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency. Netro has targeted Denise Elerick, of the Harm Reduction Coalition of Santa Cruz County, with dozens of posts. One post compares Elerick's face with Frankenstein's. In another post, Netro includes a photo of Elerick's back end. Netro has also targeted Alicia Kuhl, the President of the Santa Cruz Chapter of the California Homeless Union, dozens of times. In a video Netro posted to Youtube and Facebook titled "cud," Netro alternates, over and over again, footage of Kuhl's face with that of a horse.

Take Back Santa Cruz (through their Cruz Needles social media account) shared the bullying post targeting Rachel McCullough-Sanden, and often shares other objectionable posts created by "Big Joe 77".