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Twenty-five people or so came out for Chris Crawford's anti-Bonnie Neely rally at the Humboldt County Courthouse today. The signs were worded sharply: "Bonnie's Bought & Paid For." "Had Enough Humboldt County?" "The 4th District Deserves Better." "Neely and the Political Machine." "For The People or For The Money?"

There's no doubt that Supervisor Neely, the Fourth District incumbent and chair of the California Coastal Commission, left herself open for this interesting political maneuver when she held a rage-making chi chi fundraiser in Sacramento yesterday . Neely has raised the bulk of her cash in very large donations, a good portion of which came from outside the county, and this Sacramento swing doesn't exactly bulk up her local cred.

Of course, Crawford's candidate in this race -- Eureka Mayor Virginia Bass -- has to date raised much more money that Neely, much of it in chunks of $1,000 or more. But since these donations came from local developers and business interests, one might paint them as cleaner than Neely's non-Humboldt developers and business interests.

Crawford makes the case well, as you can see below. Cannily, he doesn't just stick it to Neely -- he sticks it to leftish Neely supporters, who voted overwhelmingly for the stricken-down campaign finance reform initiative known as Measure T. Where's your local control now? That's a tough charge to answer.

Of course, not a lot of well-known Measure T supporters in Crawford's crew either, so perhaps the irony cuts both ways. But it does seem that Neely and the Neelyites are the ones that will have to answer the question.