It’s rare that a politician won’t speak with the media, as they usually want to get their message out to the voters and either their current, or for candidates, their future constituents, and to have an influence on things in the community in order to accomplish their agenda and what they were elected to do. It’s also rare that an elected official won’t answer
questions of local media about their decisions, actions and what they say in their official capacity. It’s even more rare that a candidate for office fails to provide any information using modern technology of the internet to inform the voters who they are and what they plan to do if re-elected. But three-term Los Banos District 4 City Councilwoman Deborah Lewis is doing just that. She’s running a stealth campaign and one similar to the “Biden in the basement” campaign during the 2020 presidential race.
No Internet Presence
While she claims to want transparency for the public in the local government she serves, Lewis limits what she provides about herself to the residents of Los Banos and to at least, this media source. She has no LinkedIn profile providing her professional biography and education, and no campaign website, Facebook page or other social media to allow the public to learn and know about her background, accomplishments while in office or why she’s running again and what she plans to do during a fourth term.
Lewis doesn’t provide her mobile or work number, or a campaign phone number nor a campaign or personal email address to the public or media. Lewis only provides the city council number and official email address on the City’s website, to which she has never responded, based on multiple emails from this reporter both in 2022 and this year. Plus, her city phone number and email address cannot be used for political purposes as that would violate state law.
Other than an appearance at a candidate’s forum and local media reports about what she shared during it, and what Lewis says at council meetings, and possibly campaigning in her district, how she expects voters, especially new residents in her district to know about her, what she stands for and will do if re-elected, is a mystery. Yet, Lewis is hoping the voters will still keep her on the council for another four-year term.
Lewis’ Background
Information that could be learned about her was provided during that candidates’ forum and from a Nov. 2016 article by the Enterprise still on the Merced Sun-Star’s website. Based on the information in that article, Lewis is a 75-year-old retired social services worker who helped those suffering from mental illness, elder abuse and those voluntarily declining medical care.
“My message when I was first elected is the same message now, keeping Los Banos first,” Lewis was quoted as saying at that time, and said she wants to continue her work on City Council projects. She previously served on the Merced County Fair Board and on the Los Banos Arts Council and ran for public office twice before being elected to the city council.
In addition, during the League of Women Voters of Merced County’s Political Forum on September 24th, Lewis shared about her service to the city. She said, “I was a planning commissioner for 10 years, here in the city of Los Banos before I became elected to city council, and I was elected in 2012 to represent governance in this city.”
Lewis also shared her views and what she’s accomplished as a council member saying, “Some of the things that I stand for and have stood for in the past is honest and open government, financial accountability, and respect for the taxpayer dollars and public safety.”
“Some of the things I’ve worked on since I’ve been on city council are having new animal control ordinances, seeing that the dog park is in place, and sidewalks on the state streets that have not been there for a very long time,” she shared.
Lewis Declines Interview, to Provide Information, Campaign Material
After obtaining her work and cell phone numbers, in response to multiple efforts to contact Lewis for this article, including several requests for information about her and her campaign through her official city email and phone number, her work and cell phone numbers, and to let her know advertising opportunities were available in the special election print editions, she finally responded simply, “Thank you for the request but I’m going to decline.”
To clarify what she meant Lewis was then asked, “Decline the candidate profile and advertising? There’s no charge for the article.” But she did not respond.
Lewis was then asked to at least provide a copy of any flier she might be distributing to voters to provide additional information about her and her campaign. But that too was ignored.
Hired, Then Fired City Manager, Voted Against Rehiring Him
What is known about Lewis from her current term is she voted to hire Josh Pinheiro as city manager in 2021, then is the last of the three members to remain on the council, who voted to fire him less than nine months later. The other two are gone, including former Mayor Tom Faria who chose to not only decline to run for re-election in 2022, he resigned and moved out of town before both the election and his term expired.
The other is former District 2 appointed councilman Refugio LLamas who lost for election and is now running for mayor. Lewis also was the lone vote of the current councilmembers against rehiring Pinheiro and the controversial $1.8 million settlement he was paid.
Her approach to achieving transparency is to question and chastise staff during council meetings even on basic things and seeking information they’ve already provided in their agenda item reports. The Sept. 18th meeting and her questions on the purchase of seven new city vehicles is just one example.
No Record of Communication with Mayor, Council Members, City Staff for Two Years
Based on the responses to the Public Records Act request by the Enterprise, nowhere in two years of emails and other communications amongst and between council members and the city manager, or any other staff member is there a single one from the councilwoman. Yet, during the council meeting of Sept. 18, 2024, she publicly chastised Pinheiro claiming he’s preventing her and the other council members from speaking with city department heads or other staff.
But when asked, Lewis would not say if she calls or texts the city manager or meets with him prior to council meetings, which is standard operating procedure for part-time policy makers who sit on the councils of general law cities in California. That’s the practice so as to not catch city staff by surprise and publicly embarrass them, and to not waste the public’s time causing the meetings to unnecessarily last longer.
Publicly Shared Private Information About City Staff Member
In addition, at the end of the final council meeting before the November election, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, during Council Communications, Lewis shared private, sensitive information about a city staff member who is leaving her position for another opportunity. That staff member had not yet announced her move, and Lewis’ comment not only violated the city employee’s rights, it caused the staff member to have an emotional breakdown following the meeting. It was an attempt to make the city manager look bad for the staff turnover that Lewis is trying to blame on Pinheiro.
Personal & Education
According to the 2016 Enterprise article, Lewis graduated in 1974 from San Jose State University and did social work for five years. After that, she worked for the Office of the Public Guardian of Santa Clara County.
She has been a Los Banos resident for 34 years and has an adult son from a previous marriage.
Faces One Opponent
The one opponent Lewis faces in the race is local business owner Travis “T.J.” Loebig. The election is November 5th.
