October 2, 2018

A California Republican Candidate Is So Desperate for Positive Press That She Quoted Herself in Her Latest Ad

Young Kim is running for a House seat in Southern California’s 39th District.

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/AP Images

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California congressional candidate Young Kim is “addressing the homeless youth crisis,” according to an ad released by Kim’s campaign this month. In the ad, Kim, a Republican running for a House seat in Southern California’s 39th District, is shown working in her office and chatting with constituents while text overlays like “The OC Register—Young Kim: ‘Addressing the homeless youth crisis'” boast of praise from local media. 

Candidates often feature endorsements and positive news coverage in their campaigns. But what Kim’s ad doesn’t make clear is that the favorable quotes are from articles that Kim wrote herself. 

That line about homelessness? It’s from the headline of a July 2016 editorial Kim wrote for the Register about her efforts in the state Assembly to increase funding for homeless youth. Kim wrote:

There are crises in Orange County and across the state that are easy to identify: We can see the effects of drought, unemployment and crime rates. But there are also crises that are largely invisible, yet still drastically affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Californians. One such example is the tragically increasing occurrence of homeless youth.

Another overlay boasts the following quote, from the Orange County Breeze, a small online publication: “Young Kim wins bipartisan support for Orange County.” That statement is actually from the headline of a July 2016 press release from the former state assemblywoman’s office, which was then published verbatim in the Breeze. What’s more, the line quoted in Kim’s ad—”Young Kim wins bipartisan support for Orange County”—is misleading; the full headline reads, “Young Kim wins bipartisan support for Orange County Veterans Affairs Hospital.” 

Kim, who was a member of the state Assembly from 2014 to 2016, was born in South Korea and was a businesswoman before entering politics. Kim’s opponent in the Orange County race is Democratic political newcomer and philanthropist Gil Cisneros. Although Kim only bested Cisneros in the primary by 3 points (in California primaries, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party) RealClearPolitics rates her as having a 10-point advantage over her competitor. Cisneros and Kim are looking to fill the seat vacated by Republican Ed Royce, who announced in January he would not be running for reelection. Kim’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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