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What a difference three weeks can make. As we all awoke on the morning of April 10, Eric Swalwell was a tenured congressman and in strong contention for the governor’s mansion, on a trajectory of being the most famous politician to ever come out of the Tri-Valley.
Four days later, the pride of Dublin had become a permanent stain. He resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives in disgrace that afternoon, less than 48 hours after suspending his gubernatorial campaign in response to allegations of sexual assault, harassment and misbehavior. He finds himself the center of multiple criminal inquiries, and lord only knows about his family life that he loved to flaunt in candidacy.
By my count, two women have come forward through the press to allege Swalwell forced sex with them while they were too intoxicated to consent, including one who told the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN that one such incident occurred while she was on Swalwell’s staff. Three other women have accused Swalwell of other misconduct, such as unwanted touching or sending them unsolicited nude photos via Snapchat.
The ex-congressman has denied serious allegations against him, said he apologized to his family and supporters for unspecified “mistakes in judgment in my past” and gone silent since that first week. Convicted in the court of public opinion, Swalwell’s political career collapsed precipitously without a criminal charge (yet) or a civil lawsuit (yet).
My thoughts have been swirling since the second that the Swalwell scandal surfaced, but to put the right words together has been difficult. After weighing whether I could even add anything to this conversation, for better or worse there are a few things the public face of the Pleasanton Weekly is compelled to say.
I want to go on record that we never received any direct tip about sexual abuse by Swalwell during my nine years leading this paper in his district. We would have investigated any such local allegation thoroughly. (I followed the Fang Fang reporting closely, which included innuendo that Swalwell may have had sex with that campaign volunteer/alleged spy, but that was a national story where the relationship piece was never confirmed.)
I only had one in-person conversation with Swalwell, a sitdown interview at the old Starbucks in downtown Pleasanton for my cover story profile in early 2017. I spoke with him by phone a couple of other times during my tenure. That’s the extent of my personal experience, I’m sorry to say.
Our reporters saw him on rare occasions during the past decade – once a year, if that, as I looked back through our archives.
I was part of an editorial board that endorsed Swalwell for reelection on three occasions. I regret those recommendations we thought we were making in good faith at the time, even considering he had no serious challenger opposite him on those ballots. Whatever vague “mistakes” he has admitted to already must be unbecoming of a congressman.
But we can’t change the past with those endorsements.
I would have pushed for revising our consideration process in the wake of this Swalwell sex abuse scandal, but we have been out of the candidate endorsement game since converting to nonprofit in January 2024. For the best, I believe.
We may have to reassess how we cover the Tri-Valley’s federal (and state) representatives going forward. We have no reporter assigned to a congressional beat, rather we tag-team stories when they come up as time allows.
It’s been a tough call, but something has to fall by the wayside with our low reporter capacity – which stands at just three for the entire Tri-Valley, and it’s been fewer in my tenure. We choose to stay hyper-focused on the local news, and that means we’ll miss stuff on the state or national stage.
Credit to the Chronicle for getting out in the open a story that the national coverage now frames as a scandal more than a decade in the making – although that’s a hard pill for me to swallow as a media man myself, knowing Swalwell was a darling of CNN, Fox News and others throughout the Donald Trump political era.
Since the initial Chronicle story April 10 and CNN’s follow-up hours later, Swalwell stories topped the headlines for about a week.
He’s become the target of criminal investigations in Manhattan and Los Angeles, the latter after model and fashion software company owner Lonna Drewes alleged at a press conference April 14 that Swalwell raped her – after likely drugging her – in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2018. No further assault allegations have been unearthed so far, publicly.
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said last week that no accusers have come forward in her jurisdiction, but women should feel comfortable to do so. Jones Dickson was also among the cache of one-time political allies to denounce Swalwell, as he was relegated to a pariah.
Great reporting continues on both coasts, although the Swalwell news cycle has slowed considerably since the first week: Politico and The Wall Street Journal had insightful retrospectives on the downfall, the Chronicle has been tracking Swalwell’s campaign funds, Axios is bird-dogging his former friends in Congress and the New York Post even followed his wife and kids in Mexico. Plus our own cover story last week, “The rise and fall of Eric Swalwell”.
The original scoop from the Chronicle team could be a landmark case study for journalism in the “believe women” era that seeks to rectify generations of public discourse downplaying and discrediting the stories of sexual assault survivors.
The paper’s exposé hinged entirely on the former Swalwell staffer – for whom they granted anonymity – and those in her circle she told. While the curt denials and reported overnight cease-and-desist letter to the woman do Swalwell no favors in defense, the article cited no smoking gun evidence like incriminating photos, seedy messages, or a direct paper or digital trail proving the misconduct.
If we had the same level of reporting, I’m honest to god not sure if we would have run the story within 48 hours of getting the interview on the record, especially knowing how much more vulnerable a legal target the Pleasanton Weekly is compared to the Chronicle for someone as litigious as Swalwell.
I’m so glad they did, because California voters needed to know about these allegations, but I always root for there being no stone unturned, no holes, no doubt with a news report.
They did not have Swalwell dead to rights, but their article killed his political career. And it should not go unnoticed that he closed the casket himself, stepping away from the governor’s race and Congress voluntarily and disappearing from the public eye.
The radio silence from someone as talkative as Swalwell seems to speak volumes.
I also tend to think the words someone uses along the way are a signal about their true character, whether we recognize it as such or not in the moment.
One of his lawyers embraced “regret is not rape” as a lynchpin during an interview. Swalwell himself has led with “I will fight them” and “I think you know who I am” among his few public utterances. Those are the types of defenses, puffing the chest while trampling over accusers, that I’d imagine Swalwell would be first in line to call out if they came from a foe on the other side of the aisle.
He was the governor candidate who proudly shouted “F*** ICE” on the campaign trail. He raised his national profile via aggressive criticisms and insulting remarks toward Trump and conservative peers in Congress.
He was anointed the “Snapchat king of Congress”, alluding to the app we know is popular primarily because its messages disappear automatically.
Come to think of it, he often flexed a derogatory tone during his original campaign for Congress en route to upsetting establishment Democrat Pete Stark in 2012.
He even amassed clips for his college papers that look rough in reflection, like “Segregation: Can it Kill the Temptations?” from his column in The Campbell Times or his erotic poetry “Hungover From Burgundy” from Campbell’s The Lyricist in 2001 or quotes from him in a senior profile in the The Diamondback at the University of Maryland in 2003.
“No one was hurt, and our dishonesty stayed on the other side of the border,” a young-adult Swalwell penned in another “The Conservative’s Companion” column at Campbell about he and his friends’ “prank” of posing as an MTV crew in Cancun on summer break.
Maybe the writing was always on the wall that he would be the author of his own political downfall.
Couple all of that with how vigorously he sought to portray himself as a grounded family man, with photos and videos of his wife and children all the time on social media (heck, even his mom’s death last August became a hook for a campaign fundraising email), and this whole situation leaves an awful taste in the mouth. I feel so terribly for his young kids.
I’m left contemplating how I can learn from this saga, and how we can all move forward for the better.
As a father, husband, journalist, organizational leader, man and human being, I think it’s important to reiterate some behavior expectations that should be universally accepted – just general musings, regardless of whether every single example is proven in this case as alleged.
You cannot rape someone. You cannot engage sexual relations with anyone too intoxicated to consent. You cannot push for any kind of sexual activity with a subordinate. You should not press anyone for sex who doesn’t explicitly say they want to, or may be in a position where they feel they have to say yes.
You cannot send unsolicited nude photos to anyone. You must wait for direct affirmation for any activity involving nudity. You cannot hound someone for sex. You cannot sexually harass other people. You should not cheat on your spouse, ever (but especially if your wife is pregnant!).
And if you have one iota of such behavior on your record, you should not hold elected office or have the hubris to run for governor. You can trust that more often than not, such incidents or character traits would come to light eventually.
We should also live in a world in which no one is the victim of sexual assault, harassment or misconduct – but when such a travesty does occur, a survivor should feel safe and supported to report what happened to authorities with the expectation that justice would follow. Same for any crime, in my book.
I can’t believe these things need to be said, but I’ve come to recognize we leave far too much unsaid as a society, especially in politics.
As for what to do next professionally, I’ll commit that the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon will investigate any local allegations against Swalwell that come our way. We will be talking as a group soon about how to search past public records to see if any crumbs exist between any untoward activity and the local police departments, prosecutors, elected officials and community leaders.
Swalwell’s imprint is throughout the Tri-Valley. Many of your electeds and other candidates (but not all) sought his endorsement, and vice versa, over these past 14 years. We’ll find where those trails lead.
We will track whether these allegations result in criminal charges or civil complaints – or if there were police reports or harassment claims lodged and buried in the past. The public deserves to see this play out to completion; he also deserves his day in court.
And to the man himself: Mr. Swalwell, if you want to end your media blockade and answer the tough questions on the record, the Pleasanton Weekly is here and we are ready.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What a Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
