While Lathrop mayoral candidate Steve Macias lists his occupation as a business owner on the upcoming November general election ballot, he cut his teeth lobbying for causes within the Punjabi community.
And so far at least one member of that community has stepped up to provide the funding necessary for his campaign.
Last month Dalwinder Dhoot, who owns Lathrop’s only existing truck stop, wrote Macias a $5,000 check that was reported to the City of Lathrop in advance of the necessary campaign filing statement due date because of the size of the contribution.
Macias, who said in an interview that he had no connection to the well-funded group that hired a lawyer and a high-powered campaign consultant to try and circulate a petition to force the City of Lathrop to put the Pilot/Flying J Truck Stop proposed for Roth Road – the cornerstone issue in his campaign – before the voters, appears to have connections to a variety of members of the Punjabi community that are part of the faction that is turning the truck stop into a campaign issue.
According to news reports from the Organization for Minorities of India – which listed Macias as an organizer for the non-profit – the relative newcomer to politics has links to not only Dhoot, but also Mike Boparai who owns the Vanco Truck Stop on Charter Way in Stockton.
Dhoot and Boparai both spoke at an event to raise awareness for a Lathrop resident that was politically jailed when he traveled back to India to visit his sick father, and according to a news account published by the organization, Macias was the event director and served as an “advisor” for the group.
According to his bio on the website, Macias is a “human rights entrepreneur” with “ventures in protecting liberty, reproductive justice and freedom of expression.” According to the page “his work consulting with political campaigns, leading nonprofit organizations, and in the California State Capital has been recognized by the Los Angeles Times, National Review Magazine and Our Sunday Visitor.”
That work also put him in touch with Dhoot and Boparai – both of whom were part of a consortium of business owners who visited the council in 2014 to complain about the city’s one-cent sales tax increase that they claimed adversely impacted their businesses. Also speaking at that meeting with the other two men was Harry Randhawa – who became the spokesman for the group that organized the petition. It ultimately failed after 40 percent of the signatures that were gathered to force the truck stop issue before voters or to force the council to rescind their decision were nullified by the San Joaquin Registrar of Voter’s Office.
All of Lathrop’s council candidates – those seeking election for either mayoral or council seats – had to file the first of several campaign finance forms by the end of business Thursday.  Those forms will list all of the donations that have been made to the respective campaigns and what the money that has been received has been spent on.