Blatant disinformation beclowns Labor's lame hit piece on Khamis

The South Bay's progressive labor squad has a long history of distributing inaccurate campaign collateral in an effort to derail popular centrist politicians. But their latest effort--a flyer that bizarrely tries to link supervisorial candidate Johnny Khamis to (we are not kidding) the spread of the COVID virus--has to earn high marks for comic, transparent mendacity. The Opp Now team fact checks Labor's embarrassment, below.

Claim: Khamis refused to extend San Jose’s COVID-related suspension on residential evictions when he was an SJ councilmember.

Analysis: False. When Khamis was an SJ councilmember, he joined the Council in a unanimous vote (May 2020) to approve extending the city’s COVID-related moratorium on evictions, as well as enforcing stronger safeguards for tenants, further protecting low-income households, and preventing exacerbating the region’s homeless and housing crises. (San Jose Spotlight, 4/14/2020). In deliberations, Khamis had noted that property owners with mortgages could not coerce the banks to whom they were indebted into collecting unpaid rentals monies. The State of California subsequently validated Khamis' concerns by creating a fund to help renters pay rent during this period, which alleviated Khamis' concerns.

Claim: Khamis Voted No on emergency paid sick leave during COVID.

Analysis: False. While still a councilmember and during deliberations about paid sick leave, Khamis noted that businesses with less than 50 employees would be hard hit by a mandated emergency paid leave policy, in essence forcing many of those smaller companies to lay off employees, as the companies would be unable to pay for the COVID sick leave. Khamis suggested that those businesses (less than 50 people) be exempted from the mandate. Khamis left office before the council voted on the emergency leave proposal, but when it did, it included Khamis' small business exemption, again validating his concerns.

Claim: Johnny Khamis is a “lifelong Republican”

Analysis: False. Khamis, in his adult life, has been a Democratic, an Independent, and a Republican. Khamis was a registered Democrat from age 18-29. Then he was a registered Republican Until the Age of 50 in 2018. Currently, Khamis is an Independent (No Party Preference). Look for more wild Republican/White Supremacist witch hunts from Labor during this campaign season, as Labor attempts to hang a Trump sign around everyone to the right of Abimael Guzman.

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