Darryl Choates is on a roll these days. Maybe even literally.
The former Seaside councilman and unwitting member of the American Independent Party (which, if nobody has told him, let me be the first: Darryl, that doesn’t mean you’re registered as an independent, it means you’ve aligned yourself with the party that’s generally regarded as a bunch of right-wing lunatics that championed segregation and nominated George Wallace to be governor of Alabama) visited the Weekly’s offices on Sept. 26 to deliver a pile of documents related to the travails of Seaside Councilmember Kayla Jones.
Jones, 25, beat Choates’ pal Ian Oglesby to win her council seat in 2016 and again is facing off against Oglesby in this year’s mayor’s race. She’s stumbled along the way – failing to file financial disclosure forms on time and racking up fines from the city because of it – and is under fire (and under investigation, one she herself called for) for spending about $20,000 on expenses, including child care, related to travel to multiple conferences.
So Choates comes to our office to deliver documents outlining Jones’ spending of taxpayer dollars, and he hands them to Weekly staff photographer Nic Coury. And as he does so, he asks Nic which one of us at the paper is sleeping with Kayla Jones. In his estimation, our coverage has been too favorable to her. In our estimation, it’s been fair.
I call him. And I call him on it. It’s a nasty implication, straight out of the Donald Trump Guide to Politics, especially for a guy who claims to be dealing in facts as he deals with Kayla Jones’ expense reports.
“I heard some reporter over there is messing with her,” he tells me. “It’s a rumor that’s going around.”
Set that untruth aside and move on to the Seaside City Council meeting of Oct. 4. Choates spoke during public comment and, along with a few other speakers, called on Jones to resign. As he was making his way back to his seat, he crossed paths with Karen Araujo of Salinas, who is vice chair of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee. She was walking up to speak and as they passed, their feet connected.
According to Choates, who claims he has multiple witnesses, including Seaside Planning Commission chair John Owens, Araujo deliberately tripped him. Choates says he fell to the ground, put his hands out to stop from face planting, and jacked up his shoulder in the process, requiring a trip to urgent care the next morning, pain medicine and anti-inflammatories. Araujo says it was a total accident, and one in which her foot made contact with his and they both kept walking. Owens says while he didn’t see Choates fall, in his opinion, it was deliberate.
None of it was captured on video. The aftermath, though, was. KSBW had a camera in the council chambers and it showed Choates telling Seaside Deputy Police Chief Nick Borges to press charges against her. As Borges walks Araujo out of the chambers to speak to her, she says, “Are you serious?”
And then, maybe without realizing his voice was being picked up on the mic, Choates turns to someone and says, “In my old days I would have did something else.”
“My rudeness, and my rude choice, is that I didn’t say ‘excuse me’ when we bumped,” Araujo tells me. “I heard him say, ‘You tripped me’ and ‘She tripped me,’ and the next thing I know, he called for a cop. I was shocked, and I am rarely shocked.”
Araujo may find herself in another position she’s never been in, and that’s as a defendant in a criminal case. Borges, who didn’t return multiple calls, is sending his report to the District Attorney’s Office. Someone there now gets to decide whether or not to charge Araujo with, who the hell knows what? A run-by tripping, I guess.
Choates says he doesn’t know Araujo, but apparently knew her well enough to tell KSBW she’s Jones’ campaign manager. Not true. Araujo, though, says during the Monterey Downs days, when the Seaside Council was dealing with that trainwreck of a proposal, Choates got in her face at one meeting and asked her, “What are you doing in Seaside? This is my town.”
(3) comments
Hi, I'm Daryl, and this my brother Daryl, and my other brother Daryl. Oh yeah Mr. See-No-Hear-No-Speak-No truth, is at it again. I have known Daryl Show-Tay( sounds a little like shorty to me but that's your business), and his family for quite a long time, since I we were kids, and Daryl hasn't changed much. Sure, he has gotten older, as we all have, so now he's more Fred Sanford and Uncle Ruckus then the handsome young athletes he used to be, times change but some things stay the same. That was Daryl's problem, he never saw a shortcut he didn't like, in business and in life. He never learned that sometimes going the long hard way is how you learn the right path to take. How low can you go Mr. Show-Tay? Besmirch a young woman's reputation the only way a teenage girl knows how to do, say she's sleeping around? I commend you though, I didn't think you could be anymore zero sum in my estimation than you already were, my apologies sir, I was wrong. I imagine you're pretty happy with yourself, maybe you think your despicable behavior was the impetus for the situation with Mrs. Jones' husband. Did you bump your head after that vicious assault? What grown man has to stoop to this type of juvenile behavior, still holding onto the arrogance of long past youth, and what a great example you're setting for those young people interested in getting involved in politics to make their City a better place. You and your 'Independent' thinking associates would do well to understand that all you have shown these young men and women is an up close example of the ugliness, and pettiness of politics, the envy and jealousy of youthful enthusiasm and creative problem solving, all by a group of small-minded people that squandered their opportunity to make Seaside great again, when they had it. Ask yourselves this, I'm 46 years old, grew up in Seaside, and we just now are getting a soccer field? That's some to notch management there, better we bet on the horses. That's what I encourage you to do, and in this race my bet is on Kayla Jones for Mayor. Don't let Trumpian tactics derail the forward thinking path Seaside can embrace. Daryl Show-Tay, how can you even fix your mouth to talk about anybody, and I mean anybody doing something you call corrupt? The same man that tried to bully and intimidate the Seaside police Union? Nice house man. I guess it's easier to say these things when you've been practicing that new enunciation that I never heard before when we were growing up. You've changed Daryl, and Uncle Ruckus isn't a good look. You should take a look at all the accusations leveled at you over the years and ask yourself, " What am I doing? ", otherwise, isn't it really just the Choates calling the kettle Show-Tay.
Only a Coast Weekly "news" report could present Darryl Choates (Don't call me Choats, I want to sound French) as a Donald Trump supporter! LMFA
I remember a time when journalism was actually respected. [sad]
Imagine if you will, articles written by Sean Hannity here at Coast Weekly. This is a mirror image of what you'd get. No difference in logic, just unreadable blather.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.