Last week Santa Barbara journalists came together for an election post mortem on City Desk with Jerry Roberts and shed light on Republican and Trump-supporter Justin Fareed’s defensive responses to questions about his campaign finances.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times and the Santa Barbara Independent, Fareed came under fire shortly before the June primary for his sketchy fundraising tactics.
The reporting found that Fareed had suspect connections to a wealthy Los Angeles businessman and 80 percent of Fareed’s donors came from outside the district. Kelsey Brugger of the Independent noted that “people who donated to his campaign had apparently never heard of him.”
Predictably, Fareed refused to comment to Brugger for her story. The campaign appeared to retaliate by blocking the reporter from his election night event.
The Independent’s Tyler Hayden called it “a shame” and even compared it to Donald Trump “barring reporters just because he doesn’t want to take a couple questions.”
Fareed can’t hide forever and will have to answer for his fundraising techniques, as well as serious questions about his financial disclosures.