Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
Three veteran political consultants — two Democrats and one recovering Republican – are operating the independent expenditure committee on behalf of Das Williams that is now attacking Laura Capps in the mail and on radio, Newsmakers has learned.
Democrats Mollie Culver and Tyler Gibson, and GOP strategist Cory Bantilan, who works for the county as chief of staff to Supervisor Steve Lavignino, are raising the money and producing anti-Capps campaign materials and on-air messages that have appeared this week.
Capps, president of the SB school board, is challenging Williams, the incumbent supervisor in the First District. A key issue in the race has been Das’s central role in crafting the county’s controversial cannabis ordinance, and his past acceptance of tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from those involved in the industry.
As first reported in this space, a mysterious new campaign committee called “Central Coast Residents Supporting Das Williams for Supervisor,” was registered with election officials late last month. The group is legally required to operate independently of Williams’s campaign.
Among other charges they make against Capps is that she is a “hypocrite” because her own fundraising in the current campaign does not conform with the limits and standards she has set forth in a campaign finance reform plan as the centerpiece of her challenge to Das.
“As expected, this PAC is doing Das’ dirty work,” Lindsay Bubar, senior strategist for the Capps campaign, said in a statement emailed to Newsmakers. “Their first hit piece is full of lies, which, as he did at the debate last week, Das will try to distance himself from. Except, he can’t.”
Responded Das: “It is unfortunate that my opponent has felt that she needs to concentrate on attacking me and running a negative campaign,” he said. “Our local politics was once civil and respectful and we should do all we can to promote and revive that ethic.”
For those keeping score at home
Full statements from Bantilan, on behalf of the committee and from the Capps and Williams campaigns are below.
The trio of consultants behind the independent expenditure committee form an intriguing, three degrees of separation alliance steeped in several decades of local politics and campaigns. They are:
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Mollie Culver, a longtime Democratic strategist, has worked for countless local party politicians, including former legislator Jack O’Connell, Mayor Cathy Murillo, Rep. Salud Carbajal and Supervisor Gregg Hart (not to mention two stints with former Rep. Lois Capps, mother of Laura), and is a favored strategist for those who win the endorsement of the local central committee. She also was a key figure in passage of the disputed cannabis ordinance, meeting at various times with Williams and other county officials, testifying at public meetings and writing letters in her former role as an advocate for the Santa Barbara Cannabis Business Council.
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Tyler Gibson, a business associate of Culver’s, who works with her on campaigns and also served as the Organizing Director of the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party. He is listed as the treasurer on filings of the “Central Coast Residents” independent expenditure committee, although he used his given name on committee documents, where he is identified as “William Gibson.”
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Cory Bantilan, chief of staff to Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, who worked closely with Williams in drafting the cannabis ordinance, during a time when the two elected officials were jokingly referred to around the county building as “the Doobie Brothers.” Bantilan has worked on a host of campaigns for Republicans, including the 2017 mayoral bid of ex-council member Frank Hotchkiss and is former executive director of the Santa Barbara Republican Central Committee.
Calling all Republicans
Much of the committee’s messaging so far has aimed at the relatively small number of Republicans in the district.
The radio ad is running on a local station that features conservative talk show programming and one brochure has appeared in the mailboxes of GOP-registered voters. Both portray Capps as an opportunist and an extreme left liberal, more risky for conservatives than Williams, who is described as “bipartisan,” in contrast to the full-throated “progressive” label which he often affixes to himself.
Read the full article on newsmakerswithjr.com
The cannabis industry, local realtors, out of county big oil & developers alike are throwing obscene amounts of money into the get Das into the Supes office at all costs campaign. They are also the same people working like crazy to get Porter elected to unseat Joan Hartmann in the 3rd District. They are shady, covert & will stop at nothing to get what they want. This has to be exposed & stopped by the voters. They’ve done it before & they will do it again. It’s not a partisan thing here, but Right vs Wrong aka Good over Evil.
The typical Democrat politics of personal destruction- the mean-machine they crank up every year when anyone dares to take them on. No wonder so few people dare to run against the local political establishment. Good luck Laura. At least your mother does still recognize you. But give this assault a few more brutal weeks until election days and I doubt if even your children or husband know you after they get done. Thank you for running. You are getting more support now, than before they started this attack.. We don’t do nasty politics any longer. We can see through it now. It is bad enough being a one party town; but we don’t have to choose the worst iteration of it.
Das is even marketing on Breitbart. What is with that? No, he is not a Republican choice. Not even close. He really has gone over to the dark side of campaigning now, after getting shut down by the Montecito Journal. Fear does not look good on boy wonder Das Williams. It is not worth it, Das.
Face it, the real money used to get elected locally, along with their votes, comes from the government employee unions. They owe Das the most, so he gets their lion’s share of campaign dollars. But now we do need to add the cannabis crowd who overnight are throwing their weight around to their most favored candidate – Das has always been part of the pot crowd, from the slow roll out of fake medial pot years ago to now legal pot. Keep in mind, it is still the numbers of voters a candidate gets, not the amount of money or marketing they do. Most voters continue to come from the government employee union members, since voting pro-union is existential to them. The numbers of pot grower voters is much, much smaller. The role of pot smokers is the unknown factor which could bulk up the very few actual votes produced by the pot growers. – do they even vote? We will learn more about our new local voting patterns and who is shaking the election money tree after this election.
I might have considered Ms. Capps except she produced numerous attack ads and focused her campaign on her opponent’s receiving money from cannabis interests in Carpinteria. Using that logic, one would think that the entire Carpinteria School Board needs to go because they, too, received funding for their schools from cannabis farmers.
This is a small town and many of us know Laura and Das personally, if not tangentially. They are both smart, well-meaning people. It bothers me that Laura feels the need to attack instead of simply presenting credentials and strategies to help our community. Das said it well: “It is unfortunate that my opponent has felt that she needs to concentrate on attacking me and running a negative campaign,” he said. “Our local politics was once civil and respectful and we should do all we can to promote and revive that ethic.”
So do that. Stop the “Central Coast Residents Committee” from attacking the attacker and just tell us that you’ve done a good job as Supervisor and would like to serve the community for another four years. You have great credentials. Be proud of that and make sure the voters know that you deserve another term. Stay positive. In our little town that will go a long way. We will appreciate it. It’s that simple.
Yes, Das has resorted to all desperate tactics to “winning” his seat. Out of county? Heck yes! Out of state? Heck yes! Partisan politics? Heck yes! Accepts money from questionable individuals and organizations? Heck, double YES!
The Head, pun intended, Doobie Brother, is getting mas money for Das from the cannabis industry. a few online forums suggest it’s even coming in from Colorado & other out of state locales. It can’t be! or can it?
The hit campaign from the Realtors is so dirty its disgusting. They not only tell lies and manipulate truth, they post the ugliest distorted pictures available. Got mailers smearing Capps and Bennett yesterday from them. Das has joined the Republicans trying to destroy people from his own party.
I got Laura’s campaign mailer the other day and I was disgusted. From the ridiculous picture of Das which was washed out and manipulated as opposed to the warm toned glam shot of Laura, to the nonsense “they against us” fear mongering BS language, to the most objectionable element which quoted him (apparently) promising to cover something up for a shady lobbyist in an email….
Which Laura’s campaign shared ZERO context on. So she has an email that shows Das Williams colluding with a shady lobbyist to hide SOMETHING from his constituents?!
Really. It is so serious that she devotes half the mailer, and yet there is nothing, absolutely nothing explaining who the lobbyist is, what the issue is, what Das is supposedly doing for this person, and why no one should know about it.
So in a nutshell Laura is accusing her opponent of something shady and horrible….and zero further information.
Way to bring Washington/Trumpian style campaigning to Santa Barbara. Who design the mailer? Cory Lewandowski?
Laura seems to have learned some very bad habits during her time as a Washington insider. Don’t do that here. That is not what this town is about. And, yeah, I’m 1st district, and yeah, that mailer made absolutely clear who should NOT be elected.
And, yes, I previously seriously considered voting for Capps, because anyone running deserves a serious look, and I looked at her on the issues and she sadly is a one issue candidate–cannabis. Her ridiculously thin platform on the other major issues, such as economic justice, were devoid of any real plans. Educating poor people on a minimal tax credit as the full extent of her plan to reduce poverty in SB County is laughable.
All her resources and experience and she comes up seriously lacking–and, the fact is, I’m pretty sure she knows she’s not a better candidate with better ideas, she just saw a vulnerable seat because of the Cannabis issue and took her shot at the next rung on the political ladder.
Okay, so did you see Laura’s BS mailer? Do you approve of that nonsense? I haven’t seen that sort of attack crap from Das.
Now i get why Realtors are going to any lengths for Das- he received several thousands in past few days from short term rental companies- who want to take housing away from local renters and turn it into vacation homes- the realtors like that idea
That Williams. Every time I see his smug mug, all that comes to my mind is the 23 of his constituents who were killed in the Montecito Debris Flow.
Has he no shame? The failed evacuation maps happen under watch. And no, you don’t get a pass on that deadly failure because you told your political supporters to leave.
23 dead-many of them were children. And Das was no where to be seen. And more telling than that, not one person responsible for the flawed evacuation maps was ever held accountable.
And now when the campaign gets tough, he becomes a cry baby.
Cry for the lost children Das, not the lost votes.
Clearly they are trying to appeal to undecided Montecito residents. This is so ironic and transparent. Painting a candidate as the moderate democrat choice is a tactic Mollie Culver has used many times, including to get Lois Capps elected. Yet this is from the recent Progressive Voter Guide:
“Supervisor Williams is being challenged by Laura Capps, a fellow Democrat. Williams is the strongest progressive choice because of his strong track record on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and his progressive accomplishments throughout his career in public service. According to our analysis, Supervisor Williams is the strongest choice for progressive leadership in office.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does anyone not realize the conflicts of interest that continue to plague local politics?
Steve Lavangnino, Das Williams and Dennis Bozanich colluded with the cannabis industry, represented by their main lobbyist, Mollie Culver, who is now Gregg Hart’s Chief of Staff, to craft an ordinance which does not benefit the residents of Santa Barbara County. Now Hart’s Staff and Lavangino’s staff have created a PAC to funnel cannabis $ into Das’ campaign and Das knows nothing about it? Right. Oh and where is Dennis? The corruption had become so apparent he had to go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another fun fact; didn’t Lois Capps fire her once right hand woman Mollie Culver? After Ms Culver helped orchestrate a fraudulent coverup regarding a three time DUI killer on her staff, her integrity was out for all to see. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe Das is the candidate closer to the right, he certainly has surrounded himself with dirty “Trump like” practices.
Liberals got to be such a dirty word, they changed it to progressives. Progressives is now too dirty, so they are falling back on “public servant”? Ha. Just the opposite – on party state liberals make us work for them. Trump won because he was blunt and plain speaking. He put it all out there – unvarnished and exposed. A lesson Democrats refuse to learn. They move only by stealth and subterfuge. Done with their dirty politics.
Bubblebee–
SB County knew for fifty years that a potential threat existed. But it’s all Das Williams’ fault. Are you literally insane?
Realtors and the Chamber of Commerce both have been destructive and highly ineffectual conservative vote-splitters in too many recent elections. They may have business interests that others like to label as “conservative”, but the real local conservatives see them as self-interested, politically naive and just plain greedy. We pay them no mind and regret they are too thick-headed to see how much damage they have done in recent political contests, which allowed weaker candidates to ride in on weak pluralities due to their stubborn three-way vote-splitting. Perhaps they are stealth operatives for the Democrats and their public sector union handmaidens, because both the Realtors and Chamber of Commerce interests have consistently damaged any real conservative chances in this town. So no thank you, they are not really Republicans nor are they conservatives in any meaningful political sense. They are just one more self-interested greed factor interested only in short-term gain. This has been going on for decades – back to the desal plant and peripheral canal voter issues.
I guess EdHat is not being neutral. Just another biased blog.
Thanks for putting a face on this recent spate of politics of personal destruction – it makes sense now: Mollie Culver appears to be the common denominator. Appreciate learning this. They was a guy, John something or another, conservative candidates would use decades ago that left the same bad taste in voters mouths – so dirty campaign tactics have long been bi-partisan. And equally distasteful. They do a lot of damage but sadly have proven effective. Knock down the other side, make them unrecognizable and then run them over with a cement truck sums up their campaign marketing tactics.
Thank you for this. Elements here ought to disturb everyone:
1. Why start this PAC 1/31, and drop an ad now? Desperation. People are afraid Laura Capps is within striking distance of winning, so the attacks are starting. Expect this to escalate.
2. Mollie Culver – someone you never heard of, but whose actions affect you greatly. A master puller-of-strings in this county. She ran Murillo’s mayoral campaign and is running her Assembly race. Bring on big union $$$! She ran Salud’s Congressional race. She wrote the ordinance, as a cannabis consultant, that has embroiled the county so much. She was Hart’s chief-of-staff. You think you’re electing candidates with your vote. Start asking who puts them in front of you….she is a tool of the Dem Central Committee, and they control the Women’s Political Committee. When you constantly rig elections, and write policies that affect everyone from the inside, paid by the industry…how is that democracy?
3. Why would these Republicans get in bed with Culver to take out Capps? They’re campaign consultants. They have no Republican clients running in these races, so they need to money. Bantilan is Lavagnino’s Chief of Staff. The same Sueprvisor Lavagnino that helped Das write the ordinance that Culver actually wrote for the cannabis farmers. Collier is Venoco’s publicist. He needs Das to clearly look the other way on his client’s activities.
Follow the money closely. There is a lot of ‘noise’ in this primary. Oh, and watch for Das’ team to bully non-supporters while telling the news media they’re ‘taking the high road’.
Spoken well from the far right.
Das is a slippery dude who is deeply in the back pockets big cannabis, oil, developers & anybody else seeking to make money by pulling the wool over the county’s citizens’ eyes. Just because it’s the 1st District doesn’t mean he has BIG plans. BEWARE!
Das knows nothing, right? HOGWASH! He’s calling the shots. Period
Realtor from waaaaay out of the 1st District are funneling BIG bucks to get their boy, Das, elected. I wonder why? Hmmmm
Das has turned this into a partisan campaign. Don’t let “Pretty Boy” tell you otherwise. He’s in the back pockets of more than you know. Do your homework & seek the truth. Wait until the next financial disclosures have to be made public because that’s going to be a guaranteed eye-opener & might even make the KEYT News lead off story!
SB County knew for 50 years? And still they drew a evacuation map that ended up with 23 dead. Any good scientist/surfer should have seen that one coming.
The fact of the matter is that Little Bluff was in charge at the time . The buck stops at the top,
They all make me throw up a little in my mouth
If the people who are smearing Capps are the same people who are smearing Bennett, then I’m voting for Capps.
I wonder how much money Das would take NOT to run? But then he wouldn’t get to be on his career politician power trip.
between the oil company lobbyists and the realtor PACS, Das’ “circle of friends” is really widening……to have Chris Collier singing his praises….HA– the same guy who represented Plains after the Oil Spill, and represented Venoco before State lands……why are they so afraid to have Laura Capps on the BOS? HMMMMMMMMM
Increasing density makes developers rich, especially if they bought the property at current zoning and are able to upzone. Increasing density means more cars, less parking, more crowded roads and freeways and increased costs for the rest of us dealing with these issues. How do you think having more people in an increasingly dense envelope with reduce “use of automobiles.” People will start taking buses, after spending millions on a condo or just walk to work and shopping miles away? Increasing density means more overload on already stressed and inadequate water supplies, sewage systems and the apparatus necessary to build and maintain this essential infrastructure. Again, the developers win, they make their millions and dump the true costs on the rest of us. The “saving open space” argument doesn’t wash, as these same developers will do anything in their power to reduce open space, playground or even adequate landscaping on their properties.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that the BOS are non partisan positions. Local elections should not be marred by any political party. It is a sad state of affairs when it takes 150K to run competitively for a local office. Or when someone spends 120K to have a slate of their candidates take over a tiny water or sanitary special district. These positions used to be held by citizens who wanted to make a difference in their community. Now local elected officials are all bought and paid for by special interests. Special interests whose fate is determined directly by the decisions of our supervisors. This is a conflict of interest and clouds every decision with corruption. The local democratic committee decides who will be elected and to what office wether it be city council, BOS, state assembly etc… No one else has a chance. We are no different than what’s going on in Washington. Back room deals and corruption abound.
Typical millennial wishful thinking with no basis in reality. Simple, more people on a given piece of land equals higher environmental degradation. All you have to do is look around you. We are witnessing the destruction of Santa Barbara by higher density.
The swamp is corporate lobbyists and right wingers, not unions that represent working class people. Regardless of who Alice “Gullaroo” is (https://www.worldwildlife.org/leaders/alice-gillaroo), Joan Hartman is an exemplary public servant.
A good reason to consider Capps.
“Das is nothing but a shill for the real estate and development industry” — No, he’s not a Republican.
I remember when SEANINSB told the truth about something. Oh wait, no, I don’t.
Consider and then discard
Increasing density is intended to bring in more taxpayers; intended solely to fund the seriously unfunded public employee pensions and support increased public employee raises, perks and benefits. That is why city staff always backs growth, and why the Democrats always back the public employee unions. They are not in the back pocket of developers when they push growth on us, they are protecting their own pockets. They see dollar signs for themselves when they push growth on us. We hire them, we pay them and they stick it to us. The only group still pushing growth, tall buildings and increased density in this area are the public sector employee unions. Listen closely and you will see this is true. Theirs is self-interest; not our interests. Then once our well-compensated public sector employees retire on their very nice taxpayer funded public pensions they extracted from us, they leave the area taking our money with them; leaving the city much worse than they found it – clogged with growth no one wanted, under-funded public infrastructure repair and maintenance, and public pension debt burdens that will choke generations to come. This is the legacy voting exclusively “progressive” in this city and county for the past several decades.. Stop doing it. Put the brakes on even more “progressive” failures.
Haha–Millenial. I’m not one. “More people on a given piece of land equals higher environmental degradation”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
No, you ignorant ninny, building new suburbs in open space further away from the places that people work eats up land with stupidly large houses with lawns and concrete while at the same time turning those people in to commuters. Please stop, you’re looking so silly.
Sorry, but your understanding of the issue is literally zero. Aside from how developers make money, and they will make money, either building environmentally harmful suburbs, or creating infill in urban areas, the environmental cost of spreading out from cities is simply greater than creating housing through infill. That doesn’t mean infill has zero environmental impact, just less. You’re simply wrong.
Newspress plus excellent = oxymoron!
The things he said about his country and his fellow servicemen while he was still on active duty have not been discredited and remain public record.
The things he said about his country and his fellow servicemen while he was still on active duty have not been discredited and remain public record.
I remember 20 years ago when DAS was Hannah Beth Jackson’s coffee boy. Remember seeing him walk into their office every morning with loads of coffee, always running errands. He’s still running errands today just for the wrong people.
Where’s the money coming from for all these door-knocker “volunteers”, mailings, and flyers? Who is funding Das and Laura, and why?
Chris Collier, Das, et al fear Capps on the BOS because they want the MONEY & POWER. Forget the S.B. County landscape, channel and everything else that makes this place the American Riviera that we, well most of us, love to live & work. A vote for Das is a vote to say goodbye to the protections we have enjoyed for the past few years.
Look at Laura’s political team just juice this Cannabis controversy. Gathering votes from the opposed as if she’s the savior. Yet there’s zero doubt. There’s an about face in the reckoning. The following herd will have been fooled again. Only to be reasoned with the change of heart and political positives of cannabis.
SEANINSB I remember 4 years ago when Das was simultaneously running for 1st District Supervisor and the Senate 2020. He filed official papers, had 80K in campaign contributions for his 2020 senate bid and then the public found out. The BOS was simply a placeholder until something better came along. Oh but wait something better did come along and her name was Limon. The Machine decided Das better stay put in his soon to be elected BOS position, as Limon made more sense. They moved Gregg Hart to the Second District a few months after his win on SB City Council. They simply shifted the pawns. With Hartmann, Williams and Hart on the BOS they continue to have a majority and no objectivity. Das will win this time around too, because that is who controls our non partisan BOS and City Council.
Das is being funded by numerous out of county Big Oil companies, Real Estate developers, & others not even remotely connected to the S.B. County at this time. They all want HUGE paydays all thanks to The #1 Doobie Brother, Mr. Weed himself, Das Williams. “Smoke ’em if ya got ’em!”
I’m embarrassed by my fellow Santa Barbarian ad hominem attacks against both candidates. You should Inform yourselves as to how each candidate has voted on issues of import to you, and vote accordingly. Personally, I have been very impressed with Das’s career protecting our environment and sound civic planning. Laura Capps, so far as School Board member was not effective in dealing with the impact the school shooting scares which have been so impactful to the children in our community, and has shown little initiative In addressing the shameful two-school problem plaguing SBUSD- one for Latino’s, and one for wealthy white kids – not a good plan for anyone in our community. BTW – I’m wealthy and white, and so are my kids.
ummm, since Das is taking credit for “saving lives” [I kid you not, just look at his ads]- then he has opened the door to taking blame as well.
Shame on him.
NewsPress Has two excellent articles in their Sunday opinion section, setting out who is giving what to whom. One titled ‘Our Very Own Swamp” highlights the huge role played by the public sector union campaign donations (43%). Public sector unions have the most direct and immediate interest is who gets elected, because those are the elected officials who will be soon writing their paychecks, funding their benefits and granting them their perks. That is direct investment money – not really “campaign” dollars. The second article today is the Guest Opinion editorial which sets out more details about money flowing into the First District and Third District county races. Who is this ms Alice Gullaroo and why is she personally putting $50,000 into Joan Hartman’s campaign? Key is don’t let campaign marketing decide your vote. Put your own interests first as a county resident and taxpayer -not the interests of those intending to harvest paybacks for campaign cash invested.
While I am definitely NOT a fan of Das Williams, a quintessential political hack, the background info on Capps makes her even more unsavory IMO.
From Jerry Roberts: “Capps has never won elective office — she was appointed to the school board — but has an impressive resume in Washington as a former speech writer for President Bill Clinton, communications director for Sen. Ted Kennedy and senior aide on John Kerry’s presidential campaign.”
For me, anyone that could work for Ted Kennedy and try to help Kerry (the traitor to his fellow Vietnam servicemen and women) get elected as president obviously has her priorities and moral compass really screwed up.
I won’t vote for either of them.
Elected officials who dig in and tackle the huge unfunded public pension crisis that is devouring more and more of the count, city and school budgets every year, that is the candidate that best suits all our interests. Why do none of the candidates even talk about this? Why are voters not even asking about the public pension crisis -far more immediate than any alleged “climate change” crisis. Which in fact may be nothing more than a calculated distraction, to cover up the real unfunded public pension crisis. Every new tax initiative now goes to paper over the public pension short-falls. That is our crisis, folks. Every new “green” initiative demands new political slush funds and increased command and control over tax dollars, used now primarily to plug up the public pension holes.
I think Capps just wants to jump in on the family tradition of going to Congress and this was her only open option for getting started. Too bad a probably decent Democrat with no experience has to attack another decent Democrat, who does a good job, for a leg up.
The SB New Press is a notorious right wing mouth piece. Believe any thing they say at your peril, as most of the “opinion” section comes straight from the owner’s political philosophy — anti union, anti – minority, pro tax cuts for the rich, pro development. For example, during the Obama administration, she ran a daily “budget buster” headline on the front page, showing how the U.S. was drowning in debt. The day the Republicans took over, the budget crisis was over and this bit of propaganda disappeared.
The campaign against John Kerry has long been discredited. The right wing group’s (who attacked him for his military service) tactics are considered an example of a successful political smear campaign for its widely publicized and later discredited claims. Bringing this up as a pejorative against Capps doesn’t help your arguments in the least.
10AM: The data in these two News-Press articles comes from public election filings for each candidate. And bot encourage readers to visit the election reporting website themselves for verification. No bias there, unless a candidate is falsely reporting amounts and sources of campaign funding. One has to assume you have not read the NewsPress in a long time. I commend others to support our only local daily, which still gets delivered to your door step and judge the paper themselves today; and not from the wounded perspective of those who were let go over a decade ago. It is a shadow of its former self,, no question about that. But when most local print dailies have ceased to exist at all, kudos to the owner for her continued commitment to the survival of the print version of the Santa Barbara NewsPress. Thank you, Wendy McCaw.
The public debt crisis is not over, nor has it disappeared from the GOP agenda. The numbers previously published are not propaganda. Time for Democrats to stop calling attempts to reform public entitlements, which drive most of this growing public debt crisis as “cuts”, and do something about the massive unfunded public employee pension debts owed the largely Democrat supporting public sector work force. Public debt will swamp us long before any sea levels rise. Public debt is real – “climate change” is misused by the Democrats as a distraction.
And proof of your claim….?
Oh, really, Sean? You literally have said nothing about his track record, his actions, or his policies. That’s all you’ve got. That he started at the bottom and worked his way up in life, as if that’s something to be ashamed of? That’s so weak, bro.
And, yeah, Das is running my errands, I’m a constituent and I’m not a wealthy donor or lobbyist, but when I have called or emailed him over the past ten years, he has always tried to provide service–as my elected representative.
It’s pathetic that no one seems to be able to talk about policies. I would bet you money that the majority of Capps’ defenders on this thread have literally never read her platform. If you have, you’ll be hard pressed to pretend there is any real substance there.
“Combat climate change”. “Defend Children”. “Reduce poverty”
The most feel good ideas, which I am all for, and no real plans on how to do these things much less do them more effectively than Das has. Seriously have you people clamoring and squawking so vigorously even READ her campaign website and her plans for implementing her feel good agenda? I bet you haven’t. Educate yourselves by reading your own candidate’s materials for a start.
Yep. She’s not running against Das because she has better ideas or experience, she’s running because he is vulnerable on a single issue. Classic for people who want to climb the ladder to Washington to start on the School Board and look for any step up from there.
We really don’t need Washington insiders like Laura Capps bringing their nasty tactics here.
Now if she actually had a campaign platform with fleshed out and realistic ideas on improving our community, yep, I’d vote for her. Sadly, she doesn’t.
You have got to be kidding me. You used protecting the environment and Das Williams in the same sentence. Das is nothing but a shill for the real estate and development industry, taking tens of thousands of dollars from out of town developers and while in Sacramento voting to outlaw single family zoning doubling the density in our neighborhoods.
OAITW
First, increasing density is good environmentally. How do you not know that? Increasing density reduces loss of open space and use of automobiles. So, you fail on that one.
Second–can we, just one time, have some proof. Do you have links to any credible sources that he is taking money from out of town developers? Love to see it.
And by the way, OAITW, do you have any idea how much money Capps has gotten from out of state donors, like the 25k from Washington DC based donors? We don’t need that crap here, and she is talking about transparency and campaign finance reform…yet magically that will only happen AFTER she is elected, when she could be doing it right now on her website.
But she isn’t. Talks the progressive/reformer talk, but walks the Washington insider walk.
HA!! HA Ha ha. Thanks for the recommendation of the SB News Press. I’ll kindly pass, thank you.
Entitlements are money you’re entitled to. SS is an entitlement, but the word “entitlement” has been made a dirty word by bad faith right wingers. But the people drawing SS are not those who are contributing to it … the payees contributed in the past, and that money went into the general fund. It’s funny to talk about “the government’s greedy paws” when SS is a government program … one that right wing government haters want to destroy.
“SocSecurity, Medicare and Medicaid being the primary drivers of the expanding national debt” — this is not true, but then nothing claimed by right wingers ever is.
Yup. Knee jerk “kick out the incumbent.” As I’ve said, whoever was in office when pot was legalized was going to get the crap kicked out of him/her. Das has worked in several different elected offices, done decent work, and served his constituents. I think and hope he will win on his record.
Capps ran on one issue, and on her name. There must be others on Edhat who ended up on the long-term phone survey? I think she contracted it. It was broad, but obviously about Williams v Capps. I just hope these online discussions lead to thought. But they’ve turned me off, so I doubt that will be an outcome!
I sure hope you’re expressing this message to every senator, monthly. Especially those Republicans who used to be fiscally conservative! All the Republicans who care about debt stuff when the president is a Democrat. And add every Republican house member to your mail or call list.
SBLOCAL: You are entitled to whatever money is left in the account. That is as far as it goes. There is not some lockbox with your name on it with only your contributions in it earning interest and dedicated to only paying you when you retire. Understand what a Ponzi scheme is first, if you want to educate yourself about your future social security “entitlement”. The only secure retirement plans are the government employee union negotiated pensions since they have the power to elect others to tax everyone else in order to make themselves whole. Now do you undertand why a million dollars is getting spent to be a pro-union vote on the county board of supervisors? On our very ballot in this upcoming election is a speciously named new school bond initiative “Construction and Modernization” that puts a bandaid on the fact teacher and educational employee union bargained for pensions have raided the schools budgets for themselves, and now they must add another tax on us to pay for basic school infrastructure upkeep. I suggest you are very deficient in your knowledge and understanding of what exactly is going on. For your own benefit, I would recommend a crash course about what you think is your social security “entitlement”. And what reform to ensure its long term viability looks like. So when you hear politicos scream any social security reforms are cruel cuts, you can turn a deaf ear.. And, by all means get a thorough understanding of what it will take out of your pocket for years to come and your children’s pockets and your grandchildren’s pockets to cure the current unfunded public employee pension liabilities we are facing right now. 20 years ago promises were made, warning were ignored and now the pay-off for retiring baby boomer public pension holders is taking a huge bite out of local budgets. Do they deserve to get what was promised, in your name? So now you have to pay for it, as long as they keep drawing down their promised lifetime public employee pensions – they in fact are the sole retirement entitlement holders. You are not. Decades of progressive voting for public employees has become suddenly very regressive for the private taxpayer who are now their debt holders.
Would I give up my current monetary situation; most of my monthly income, in order to have a different president, one I could respect? Heck Yes!
You make valid points, I recognize that. But do not tell me who best suits my interests. And don’t ignore the biggest debt, the federal debt. Your post has no area boundaries, so my response won’t either. And I don’t pay much mind to those who pass off climate issues as “alleged.”
I’m a social liberal and a registered Democrat and felt I had to downvote your nasty comment.
Let’s all be honest here. Das has a huge monkey on his back called Out of County Special Interest Groups with their unlimited money. He has no intentions to shake that off.
Library maintains copies of the NewsPress. Read the full articles in last Sunday’s paper (Voices section 2/16/20) yourself for free. Lots of verifiable data to discuss. Voters should wonder why a elected $125K a year county seat would take nearly a million dollars in campaign cash in order to take its place.
But somehow Laura’s tens of thousands from Washington insiders is local money in your book?
HAHAHA!!! Oh, the hypocrisy.
1:13AM: Track this editorial from the Orange County Register so you can get started exploring state and local public pension debt resources: “The economy has been booming over the last decade, which has provided local governments with a windfall in sales and property taxes. Despite the economic fat times, California cities have been complaining about their dire economic straits, with some of them even fearing insolvency unless something is done to change the financial trajectory.
What explains this dichotomy? The answer is simple. The costs of public employee compensation, especially pension and retiree-medical benefits, continue to climb exponentially and are consuming ever-larger portions of local general-fund budgets. One need only look at the Transparent California website to get a sense of the eye-popping levels of pay and benefits…..”
NB: (Copy and paste the partial Orange County Register quote into your search engine and it will link you to the full article which presents other public pension resources.. Stanford Institute has been publicizing this data for years – also mentioned in the full editorial.) Glad to see you are interested.
1:53 AM: Actually, it is the Democrats screaming “cruel cuts” every time the GOP attempts to reform entitlement spending – SocSecurity, Medicare and Medicaid being the primary drivers of the expanding national debt. Get on board and we can get this done. “Gutting the soul of our nation” I believe is the latest Democrat rallying cry against these entitlement cuts.
Social Security is not an ENTITLEMENT! It is made up of money that belongs to those contributing to it so it should be protected from the government’s greedy paws.
When someone says “let’s be honest”, they’re about to lie.