Gaslighting Guru: Petaluma Councilman Brian Barnacle Mass Emailed a Smear Campaign About Me for Highlighting His Conflicts of Interest as He Seeks Re-election
Re: Adina Flores - who is she? why is she targeting Petaluma? how to respond?
Yesterday, October 1, 2024, Petaluma Councilman Brian Barnacle sent an email about me to a mass mailing list of campaign donors. Mr. Barnacle is seeking re-election in the November 5, 2024 General Election.
I offered to debate Mr. Barnacle in live time to clarify the misinformation that is currently spreading about a ‘BIPOC’ woman. So far, he has not responded to this request.
From: Barnacle for Petaluma <barnacle4petaluma@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Adina Flores - who is she? why is she targeting Petaluma? how to respond?
Date: October 1, 2024 at 1:20:25 PM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Hi All,
First, thank you for your service to our city. I am sorry that you are being spammed by Adina Flores. It is the worst thank you possible. Politics are messy, and I anticipated a tense campaign, but this feels particularly low for our city. Please know that every one of Adina's complaints to the FPPC about me has been dismissed due to lack of evidence.
Who is Adina Flores? Adina is a far-right blogger that is best known for her anti-vax advocacy and submitting hundreds of bogus FPPC complaints about Sonoma County elected and appointed representatives. Here is a website someone created to give people an idea of who she is. Note, I had nothing to do with creating it; it was shared with me when she started attacking me so I know I was not alone.
Why is Adina targeting Petaluma? Adina clearly has it out for Blake and I. Her blog posts about us are intended to be used by our opponents campaigns to assert things that are not true and raise concerns about us having a conflict of interest. It is 100% garbage, but that is not stopping Lance and Alex's supporters from amplifying and lending credibility to these baseless attacks on social media. I even have ring door video footage of Lance's canvasser pressuring my supporter to remove my sign by repeating the lies.
I'm attaching three screenshots that give a sense of what is going on in this campaign:
Adina publicly giving Alex Decarli head's up about forthcoming blog posts about Blake (image title: alert)
Anti-Brian/Blake conspiracy facebook page "I Love Petaluma Uncensored" fundraising for Adina (image title: fundraising)
Lance and Alex supporter Heater Kratt giving kudos to Stephan Perez, a person who was removed from our race relations ad hoc after numerous racist social media posts were revealed (image title: kudos)
Yes, I am alarmed that Lance and Alex's campaigns are working with racists and MAGA conspiracy theorists. I'm frustrated that Lance's wife Moira Sullivan and his strong supporter Heather Kratt are the two most frequent commenters on the anti-Brian/Blake conspiracy page I Love Petaluma Uncensored. They know these are lies and continue to amplify them.
How to respond to her spam? As tempting as it is, I encourage you to not respond to Adina. It will just fuel her and put a target on your back. Instead, I encourage you to turn your frustration toward helping Blake and I win.
Here are few more effective ways to respond:
Send an email to 20+ people you know in District 5 and 6 letting them know that this unethical stuff is happening, and whose campaign's are benefitting/involved
Post a full-throated endorsement of your preferred candidate on your own social media site
Sign up to canvas for us - we both canvas every weekend! (Brian, Blake)
Donate to the campaign of the person she is attacking (Brian, Blake)
Talk to your neighbors when ballots drop
Let me know if you have any questions about this stuff.
Thank you. Onward to November 5th!
Best,
Brian
Being that I am fully transparent, I have addressed Mr. Barnacle’s allegations as follows:
Mr. Barnacle sent the smear campaign approximately an hour after I published this article:
I am not a Democrat or a Republican, but a follower of Christ who is driven by truth and integrity. I briefly worked as a contributor for the American Values 2024 PAC for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while he was planning to run as an independent candidate. I have also contributed as a freelance journalist for The California Globe.
As a biracial woman, Asian and European, Sonoma County Democrats have been extremely racist towards me. They have called the police to ‘handle’ me dozens of times within the past few years for simply asking legitimate questions that they refuse to answer. The Sonoma County conservatives have always been kind to me even after I tanked the campaign of one of their former Supervisor candidates, my former church Pastor, Andy Springer, who acted dishonestly.
I am not an ‘anti-vaxxer’. I do not wish to receive an injection of an experimental gene therapy which was initially utilized for eugenics targeting people of color. As an East Indian woman and bodybuilder, practicing eastern medicine is a part of my culture and lifestyle. I do not use pharmaceuticals nor western doctors. I do not appreciate being labeled in a derogatory manner by a Caucasian man for following my beliefs. I wrote the following articles which further explain my views on the COVID-19 inoculation program:
I currently have nearly 20 cases open with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Cases are only opened if a complaint provided substantial information requiring further investigation.
You will notice that a case has been opened on Petaluma Climate Action Commission Vice Chair Panama Bartholomy, the founder of Mr. Barnacle’s employer, Building Decarbonization Coalition.
Because of one of my sworn complaints, the FPPC recently prosecuted a case for Sonoma County Office of Education Trustee Herman Hernandez.
There is currently an active complaint open regarding Mr. Barnacle. I am unsure as to why he stated that all complaints have been dismissed.
The website, ‘Adina Flores Facts’ is quite comical! I have been a single woman for nearly a year. Mr. Eric Leland, Mr. Barnacle’s campaign manager, has continually mentioned my ex-fiancé as referenced from the website. I have been extremely vocal that I left an abusive relationship in the fall of 2023. Mr. Leland is actively stating on Nextdoor that my ex and myself are a current couple while fully aware that this is a blatant lie.
I have never met nor spoken to Lance nor Alex, but am happy to hear that folks are taking the time to read my articles. I am in no way, shape or form involved with their campaigns.
I am not homophobic nor transphobic. ‘Phobia’ is derived from the Latin expression of ‘fear’. I am actively working with several gay and transgender folks on various projects in our local community. As a domestic violence and sexual assault survivor, I do not wish for men dressed in women’s apparel to have access to female restrooms and locker rooms. This opens the floodgates for sexual offenders to expose themselves to women and children. Children should not be targeted with sexual ideologies stemming from the Democratic Party. The following articles further express my views:
Progressivism Targeting ‘Latinx’ – California Globe
Transgender Takeover: A Breeding Ground for Sexual Assault – California Globe
I would encourage anyone who has additional questions to reach out to me through the following channels:
I would truly appreciate if Councilman Brian Barnacle would take the time to hold a live discussion in which we may clarify his conflicts of interests with the community. If these are ‘baseless attacks’, surely he will be happy to debunk any ‘misinformation’ through this opportunity.
“If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love. “Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”
-Matthew 18:15-20