Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
In a private email, SB mayoral candidate Deborah Schwartz told key supporters over the weekend that Supervisor and local Democratic honcho Das Williams urged her to drop out the race and back incumbent Cathy Murillo — then asked if the party could “offer” her something in return.
What Das says
Williams, in a text message, acknowledged meeting with Schwartz about the mayor’s race, but took issue with her characterization of the conversation.
“I was not heavy-handed,” Das said.”You may remember that I helped get her on the Planning Commission and worked very hard for her (previous unsuccessful bid for) election to City Council.
She said she responded by calling Das and castigating him for failing to call out, as a de facto leader of the party, what she sees as reprehensible behavior by some Dem insiders and their allies. Among her concerns:
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“Slanderous” attacks on Nina Johnson, the longtime City Hall staffer who is challenging Harmon in District 6, which she said have included formal complaints by party apparatchiks about errors in her campaign finance reports, picketing at an open event she held to meet voters and an effort to get Dem Women to withdraw its earlier endorsement of Johnson for being “anti-Democratic.”
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“Outrageous” comments by former party chair Daraka Larimore-Hall on the SB Talks podcast, in which he insulted Schwartz, Sneddon and school board member Laura Capps — all Democrats — in addition to demeaning mayoral candidate James Joyce III – a loyal Democrat — for having challenged party-endorsed candidates at various times.
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A “threatening Google text message” that she, Schwartz, has received, which she connected to the “desperation” of some party leaders about Murillo losing, and which she said she has forwarded to the Santa Barbara Police Department: “I am watching my safety,” she said.
Schwartz also noted that even if, hypothetically, she did drop out and endorse Murillo, her backers would not follow her, given that her entire campaign has been premised on the need for change in culture and operations of City Hall under the mayor’s leadership.
“My supporters would never vote for Cathy Murillo,” she said.
Power Rankings
Seven days is an eternity in politics (although, to be sure, it’s a, um, shorter eternity in an all-mail election in which many ballots already have been cast. But we digress), and things can change quickly – but one week out, here is our totally unscientific, fact-free view of where things stand, according to the book maintained by Las Vegas bureau correspondent Tony (Little Tuna) Tagliatelle.
1-Randy Rowse. The sudden outbreak of Democratic in-fighting and sturm und drang underscores his campaign message about the corrosive effect partisanship has had on City Hall, and the latest e-blast by Dem chair Darcel Elliott, linking him by not-very-sly innuendo to Donald Trump, highlights the desperation with which Team Cathy views his campaign.
2-Cathy Murillo. In a low-information local election, don’t underestimate the importance and effectiveness of the squadrons of volunteer precinct walkers the Dem Party turns out every weekend for its candidates, and don’t forget that campaigning door-to-door is what Happy Cathy does best, certainly far better than governing.
3-James Joyce. The collegiate track man has all the momentum in the race as it heads to the final stretch but from where we’re watching up in the nosebleed seats, it looks like he waited too long to turn on the burners, and simply has too much ground to make up. Whatever happens, however, he’s established himself as a player on the local political scene.
4-Deborah Schwartz. Deborah thought the mayors race would be all about policy, not power-brokering. She declined to identify by name any of the Democratic Party “core group” she says created a toxic political atmosphere, but here’s a wild guess at who would lead off such a list: Das, Darcel and Daraka.
5-Mark Whitehurst. Nice full-page ad in his own newspaper.
6-Matt Kilrain. Leads the field in appearances in police reports.
Don’t forget to vote.
If the DCC was all powerful, they would never let the vote get split among the liberal candidates like it has in the last 2 elections, hurting Murillo both times. But I can’t bring myself to vote for any candidate that received illegal contributions from developers.
I love how local elections always come down to the last few days with the drama! Grabbing popcorn. Already voted. Go Deborah!
This is another reason why I am going with James Joyce. Above board, congenial, inclusive, and a good listener with policy experience working for former Senator Hanna Beth Jackson.. When asked at a recent event how he felt about his competition he said that he focuses on his efforts and does not get distracted.. like an athlete near the finish line. I appreciated his refreshing response and calm confidence.
We have to go with Rowse or Schwartz… the rest of this crowd is just a disaster…
Joyce is pure machine. The local revolving door farm club moving up the political machine party ladder. Get rid of all of them – break their lock on the slow and steady decline of this city. No more Hannah-Beth Jackson wannabes, no more family legacy entitlements like Capps, Sneddon and Schwartz, no more new faces already sold out to machine political agendas like Limon and Harmon, no more tired old faces with failed track records like Das Williams and Gregg Hart. Can we finally breathe the fresh air of people running who are not 100% dependent upon pleasing their national political party’s desire to take over every single public office and have them parrot only the national political party agenda? Look for those who have rolled up their sleeved locally and proven by stint of public service their care about the city and not their next political career move.
Democrat leadership is afraid of Randy — A great reason to vote for Randy.
Let’s vote out Das the next time he runs.
Driving around town one sees far more Randy Rowse signs than any other candidate. Some streets are nothing but a sea of his turquoise-colored signs. Always healthy to see residents making their case public for the candidate they think will serve the city best. And yes, other signs are also seen, but the overwhelming public display is for Rowse. Good job, Randy. One could hear a collective sigh of relief when Randy tossed his hat in the ring. More than ever, we need to get back to the basics of running the city for its residents. And yes, for taxpayers to see value in return for what they are asked to invest in it every year. No more squandering Measure C monies. We need to finally get our roads and sidewalks fixed and the police station built. That is where our trust was placed when Measure C was passed. Just do it.
Has anyone asked Joyce how he would change/get rid of fiesta? Seems to be one of the few concrete things he’s actually said he’d do…
Where and how is james Joyce building a sea wall in SB to fight climate change?
James Joyce III: Climate resiliency is a big issue for this community and a big part of my campaign. The simple answer is: build a seawall
Das was probably going to give her some free reefer if she backed Murillo
Thank you and I agree. These races should be non partisan.
Elected officials should publicly remain neutral and not endorse anyone. Their job is to work with and represent the people and the issues specific to their districts. They should be coordinated – with leadership from the Mayor and others on council – to find consensus and to do the best for all. Sadly, what we are witnessing is not democratic and it is resulting in friction and division. This is not a good path. We need change.
I agree that “old school” democrats in town are fighting dirty in this election, and am not surprised to have seen the Montecito Journal’s reprint of Lee Heller’s email to the Democratic Women asking them to withdraw their nomination of Nina Johnson, either. Also seen – Salud Carbajal’s local chief attacking Nina’s donors in the Independent, without identifying her day job. The bottom line is that Cathy Murrillo is helpful to Das Williams because she will never do more than rubber stamp other people’s ideas. Meagan Harmon is helpful on the Coastal Commission for the same reason. When original thinkers who will get things done come onto the scene they pose a threat because they are going to put the city’s best interests ahead of the status quo. That is not such a bad thing.
What is so surprising here? This is exactly what the DNC did to Bernie Sanders. Granted, he was always an independent and so maybe a bit of an interloper but still, many on the democrat party voting side wanted him but no, they had to crown their queen which backfired on them big time, deservedly so [watching them writhe and scream for 4 years was poetic justice]. Nothing surprising that it’s happening on the local level too. The Democrat Party is far from what it used to be.
Under the California Constitution these local seats ARE non-partisan. It is the local Democratic Party Central Committee that has continually waged war by maligning good, smart capable candidates and ‘clearing the field’ to make these races hyper-partisan. Welcome to the sausage-making at the local Dem Central Committee! Where 2-3 people, one of whom is Das, and his employee Darcel, and their best friend Lee Heller, decide your future!
Please question the legality of all contributions. Illegal contributions are not unique to anyone group and can come from anywhere – even unions, or a political party, or a property owner, or a business, or a private citizen, or a developer. We could fix this if we could get the money out of our politics and spent more time with each other listening and speaking directly – not through costly mailers, tv adds, and signs.
We all have our “interests”. All are important to make up the unique character of our community. Every candidate got $ from groups who felt the candidate was aligned with their special interest.
I ask you to keep in mind that without developers, Santa Barbara would not be the stunning city between the mountains and the ocean that we are so proud of and that we tour around with our vacationing friends. Every beautiful structure in Santa Barbara had to be thoughtfully developed and constructed by teams of very skilled people – many of whom are your neighbors and probably your friends.
Public employee unions are not non-partisan. Money, big money is on the table. Our money. The local uni-party wants their hands on that money. Therein hangs the tale why our previously normal local elections went from community consensus building, to become vicious take no prisoner uniparty partisan blood baths. This is why we see the same names getting recycled over and over again. And the playing field is strewn with the bodies of some very well-meaning and capable local candidates, who we will now never see again. Once and done after they get ground up by the partisan mean machine. This should not be happening on the local level where we all have the chance to get to personally know each candidate. Let’s hope this past campaign mold is broken this time, and we get back to community concerns and truly non-partisan community players who still rise to public service as an honor; not an entitlement. No more partisan funded uni-party astro-turf. Back to meet and greet grass roots. And please do support your chosen candidate with your time and money – machine politics have made running for office very expensive, in order to compete with their public employee union member supported war chests.
Disappointed to see men at the helm of the Democratic ship intimidating and shutting down experienced and passionate women/POC leaders in our communities. Have these past few years not taught us anything?!
Allears–really, you want us to praise money grubbing capitalists that buy their way to further enrichment??? SB’s natural geography is what is stunning. Developers did not enhance that. Individuals who stood in the way of developers deserve credit to a degree. For example the creation of Alice Keck apartment where a high rise condo was to be constructed. Or the denial of condominium plans for a multi story couple of buildings on the upper east. Or the proposal to build a freeway along the northerly mountains to facilitate traffic flow. Etc.
No question Randy Rowse is a good guy. Paradise Cafe was the best and I miss it.
Meanwhile, on council for all those years, RR did some good things, but either did not realize how essential ongoing construction of housing is, or he didn’t have the fortitude needed to unite the community to get it. If he had, I think we would be in a far better place now.
In this race, certainly, he would be an improvement over the current situation and I will support him if he wins, but I think that other choices are better to bring us together and to move us forward in a new way.
Agree about the changes needed at the Dem Party level! Absolutely!
I remember the former owners of the Burger Bus blamed Rowse for the stricter city rules on food trucks stating he shouldn’t vote due to the a conflict of interest with his restaurant Paradise Cafe. The Burger Bus closed soon after and for that, I will not vote for Rowse. I miss those burgers.
Das asked her not to be stupid and self-centered. Tough ask, apparently.
Paradise Cafe was the best because of Jim, not Randy … not that that has anything to do with what kind of mayor he would be.
Byzantium is pure machine … completely predictable.
They are non-partisan but they are not non-ideological. Thus everyone to the right of center is supporting Rowse, but are grossly disingenuous about it.
Vote for Randy BEACUSE he sacked the Burger Bus! The burgers were relatively expensive and mediocre, in my opinion. I’m sorry, but Burger Bus?? Laughable. Let’s get focused on the present…#realissues
When two incumbents run for city council they both have the opportunity to express their ideas and their district chooses who they would like to represent them! Meagan Harmon, why do you have your followers harass Nina Johnson and City Folk who wanted to learn more about her vision during her Meet and Greet event in front of The Daily Grind? You should focus more on explaining why you failed to give your district a voice versus attacking/trying to silence Nina while meeting with locals so she could amplify their voices and concerns!
Sure doesn’t sound made up, exaggerated, or desperate at all.
Multiple tires have been slashed on cars belonging to Nina Johnson supporters. Meagan Harmon this is not good sportsmanship. The entire town knows that you were not voted in your last term but instead, you were only appointed into office! Now that Nina is running against you in a race you are losing, you/your followers decide to slash tires to try and induce fear amongst Nina’s supporters. You’re a city council member and not a Mob Boss!
Telling the truth should never be politically “risky”. How damning is that admission on its own face? Good for you Deborah for making this party machine attack public. You have labored in the trenches and don’t deserve being undercut by your own chosen political party. Along with former city councilman Randy Rowse, who actually has the most balanced public and private resume for this top city job, you two make a good case why it is long overdue to take partisan politics out of our local non-partisan races. National party politics simply do not belong at the local level or on our local school boards. Proof for this has just been presented. Why would one national political party want to strong-arm a local race? What prizes do these national party honchos have to dangle as rewards, for their ham-handed attempt to skew local voter outcomes?
Matt Kilrain is a joke, I can’t believe he has people that would really vote for him.
Hasn’t Murillo been accused of doing similar shady things?
SBC Dem Party is controls the local government, not to our collective benefit. Have you looked at their website, and seen the DCC board members’ Day Jobs? sbdems.org
Darcel Elliott – Chair, Chief of Staff, Supervisor Das Williams
Hillary Blackerby – MTD, appointed to downtown revitalization committee
Lucille Boss Ramirez – Santa Barbara County Housing Coordinator (!!!!)
Bill Rosen – Goleta Water District Board Member
Jeffery Hall – Board of Trustees Alan Hancock College
Denise El Amin – ran for Solvang City Council
Joan Vignocchi – League of Women Voters
Christian Alonso – SBPD Police Oversight Board Community Formation Committee
Gabriel Escobedo – SB Planning Commission
Charles Croninger – husband of SBCC Trustee Marsha Croninger
Do things feel a little rigged around here to you? That’s because they ARE!
The Democratic Party is using the same scare tactics that got her elected. Remember the We must have a Latina mayor to combat conservatives who will come, terrorize the women and children and bring big money to fund a conservative.
Per the MJ “There’s a lot of concern that [conservative] Randy [Rowse] will get elected,” Elliott said”.
Rowse is is more of a moderate. If anything Murillo seems to have more in common with Trump.
1. She ignored the impact of the epidemic, disappeared and didn’t address the community for 3 months after the shut down. 2. When in office, she did follow the norms or respect the democratic voting process of the council for the representative for the seat on the SBACG, inserted herself into it and got Rowse to change his vote in her favor (bad move on his part) 3. She interrupted a BLM demonstration so she could have photo op. 4. She protects insiders who support her, she could have requested a investigation on the Novak and grand jury report of the Community Development Department, but that would have been a kick in the pants to Paul Casey who seemed to be her front man. 5. She takes credit for things accomplished as if single handed.
Mesarats, YES! She also is afraid to talk to people who don’t agree with her – too thin-skinned for politics, really. She bullies other councilmembers, like Alejandra and Kristen. She is about the power, and the selfies, but has no clue how to deliver. I got a mailer about her today from the Dem Party of SB. You’d think Cathy was a job creator and savior in our town! For shame, Marty Blum, for being on it with her. ABC.
Rigged? Come on, don’t get into the whole victim/conspiracy thing.
It’s not rigged, just get out there and convince people to vote for Non-Democrats.
Simple. But wait, you won’t, because like 99 percent of the people who complain about the situation, you’re likely not going to put the work in to changing it.
Meagan Harmon and the Democratic Machine shame on you for having Lee Heller write a letter to the Democratic Women trying to undue an endorsement oh Nina Johnson. Here is the link and Lee’s letter is in this article. https://www.montecitojournal.net/2021/10/26/dcc-puts-thumbs-on-the-scale-for-its-curated-cadre-of-candidates/
So many people support Nina Johnson and are excited to show their support as District 6’s last city council member Meagan Harmon was actually never voted in. We are all so excited to support Nina that we put the “Vote Nina” signs on our bikes, electric scooters, cars, homes, and businesses. Recently, Nina supporters have been reporting people throwing rocks at them and one person had to file a police report because someone witnessed their property get destroyed by someone with a sledgehammer. Is this democracy?
Actually I read the letter and it seems absolutely on point. Lee Heller points out the absurdity of the “Democrats” endorsing a person with such views.
Well said Bizuntium
Joyce is pure machine. The local revolving door farm club moving up the political machine party ladder. Get rid of all of them – break their lock on the slow and steady decline of this city. No more Hannah-Beth Jackson wannabes, no more family legacy entitlements like Capps, Sneddon and Schwartz, no more new faces already sold out to machine political agendas like Limon and Harmon, no more tired old faces with failed track records like Das Williams and Gregg Hart. Can we finally breathe the fresh air of people running who are not 100% dependent upon pleasing their national political party’s desire to take over every single public office and have them parrot only the national political party agenda? Look for those who have rolled up their sleeved locally and proven by stint of public service their care about the city and not their next political career move.
No
Name says it all.
A small group commandeered this city and has since turned it into a perpetual cash cow for themselves.
All-the-while playing pawning games with you rabble rousers who can’t get enough of the bread and circus sham show.
A textbook strategy which permeates politics from sea to shining sea. The comedy is in how easy it is to perpetuate and loot. And to do so right in your face as you’re watching.
I guess the Rowse supporters here don’t care that he took illegal contributions and didn’t return them according to this site? Seems like a double standard but not surprising given the partisan politics that permeates our city.
“Now that District 4 candidate Barrett Reed has said he’ll return $12,000 in don’t-pass-the-smell test campaign contributions delivered on a single day from eight abstruse business entities controlled by real estate mogul Jim Knell, will Randy Rowse – who received the same amount from the same operations, on the same day – do the same?”
In a video interview online Mr. James Joyce III says, “I’ve been a resident for the past decade working for State Senator Hannah Beth Jackson, here in the district,” said Joyce. “And founder of Coffee with a Black Guy, my business.”
For transparency sake, it would be good if Mr. Joyce would clarify how long he has actually lived and worked IN Santa Barbara verses how long he lived and worked in Oxnard at Jackson’s Oxnard office. The “district” that Joyce refers to includes Santa Maria to the north and Oxnard/Camarillo/Port Hueneme to the south. A Google search shows an address for Joyce in Oxnard. When did he move to Santa Barbara? It’s important that Mr. Joyce properly impart accurate information to the voters.
The California Secretary of State Business Search website indicates that Mr. Joyce’s business (consulting and facilitation), Coffee with a Black Guy, was registered in California on November 13, 2020, starting shortly before Mr. Joyce declared his candidacy. Prior to that the company was registered in Texas, dissolved in 2019 and then reinstated in Texas in 2020.
State of California:
ID 202032310496, Coffee with a Black Guy, Jurisdiction in Texas, Application to Register a Foreign LLC on November 13, 2020
State of Texas:
ID 0802807595 Incorporated in Texas September 6, 2017,
Dissolution Date January 25, 2019
Status from Forfeited Franchise Tax (June 1, 2020) to Reinstated (July 6, 2020)
Well I was under the impression that city positions were not determined by Democrat or Republican. I was an impression that we elect people to better our broken city. Anyone who has been in Santa Barbara for any length of time house to see the damage that has been done to our city and if we don’t stop it now we will lose our city totally. That’s Williams who is taking Kickbacks and has pretty much broken every law on excepting money and it’s very well known for doing favors for people that are his friends or that is going to better his opportunities. For that reason I wouldn’t vote for Kathy Marella because he supports her. I have not made up my mind who are going to vote for yet but watching and listening and reading all this that’s going on is definitely shaping my mind on who I may vote for. I take this very seriously and I hope everybody in town takes it seriously and takes a hard look at what’s going on we need to save our town.
Randy Rowse next Mayor. Murillo out.
Byzantium, yeah, agreed, and also you should try and get away from your intensely partisan politics as well.
Yeah, because Deborah Schwartz and her mother were never Democrats or part of the (demonic? what sort of sick person says this?) establishment and leadership.
Deborah Schwartz is a good candidate, but hard to compete with the big money and our local self serving demonic Democrat party leadership. The 3 Ds are covered in political slime, Daraka Larimore-Hall got put on the back burner by his own party and is now not relevant, and remember this when Das runs for anything
She should stay in, she has little chance of winning, but her voters could could put a kink in Murillo’s count. I like Joyce, and ok with Rowse, but in the 1st month of Murrillio’s term I went ABC.
So true. This crap is nothing new. Years ago someone I know was going to run for a seat on the BOS. She was told by a prominent local democrat official, not to bother because that the seat had already been “promised” to someone else. Unless you can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to try and oust the local DNC pick, it’s futile to run. It shouldn’t be this way for non partisan local government positions. Das is as shifty as they come. A career politician and a main driver of partisan politics. He is arrogant, condescending and will be making a run for higher office as soon as the machine gives him the go ahead. BOS is a placeholder for him to stay relevant. It’s all a load.
Mayor is a non partisan office. Murillo chose not to serve as mayor. I don’t understand why anyone would vote for her again