Comments by Richard_Saunders
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Posted on July 25 at 11:22 a.m.
loonpt,
I think I'm entitled to voice my views on any part of any comment. What I objected to was a dismissal of Lois's credentials or effectiveness because one of her prior careers was nursing. I believe that attack to be unfair and that's what I said.
In addition, while I probably don't agree with opening up the reserve, I wouldn't dismiss Lois or her entire record just because I disagree with this particular vote. I also don't agree with a couple of other votes she has made.
However, overall, Lois has been a terrific Congress person and representative of this district and I think that callow or vicious remarks directed add much heat and little light to what should be an intelligent discussion.
Posted on July 25 at 8:17 a.m.
Hey whatphotosb:
Your call for a non-nurse as a representative is beneath your dignity and the dignity of this group. Lois has proven to be an excellent representative overall. I'd say that her being a former nurse has been a huge plus, and in addition she has long shown skills that go well beyond her nursing experience.
And while we're at it, most members of congress are lawyers or former lawyers. Do you really think that the bang up job Congress is doing suggests that going to law school is better experience for representing the people?
I'm not sure I agree with Lois on tapping the oil reserve but still, based on her record of service to our area, Lois deserves our support and admiration. Plus your scorn does nothing to elevate the discussion we need to work on our real problems. Please lighten up a bit.
Posted on June 25 at 3:40 p.m.
The real problem is that the current majority of Onnen, Bennett and Blois are dancing to the tune of the Goleta Chamber of Commerce and the developers.
The good news is that Blois is up for re-election this fall and Goleta voters have a rare opportunities to voter her out and send a message to the other two.
Let's see if Goleta voters wake up and shake up.
Posted on May 30 at 4:32 p.m.
There are 2 gross falsehoods in this letter that might be a sign of desperation from the Pappas campaign.
First, Marshall was not "nearly recalled". Her margin of victory in the recall was virtually identical to her margin of victory when elected the second time. Voters recognized that the recall was just a vicious, brazen political ploy timed to have a 3rd District election when UCSB students were gone for the summer.
Second, the letter writer somehow tries to tie Marshall to the Chumash. Excuse me but when Marshall stood up to the Chumash, she was called a racist. Plus the Chumash contributed tens of thousands of dollars to try to defeat her.
To suggest that there is a "conflict of interest" or collusion between the Valley Alliance and the Chumash would be like suggesting that there is an alliance between the Environmental Defense Center and Greka!
If Pappas wants to stay true to his campaign promise to get everyone working together and end divisiveness, he will denounce this vicious attack by one of his supporters.
Posted on May 22 at 10:14 p.m.
Well, I think Duncan was right on, and I'm no operative. Everyone running for office is entitled to stretch the truth a little. But Pappas takes credit for an awful lot of things that either he didn't do alone, or that really didn't get accomplished.
A good example is when on the screen he flashes "stopped casino expansion." Not only did lots of people try but in fact the Casino is expanding, buying up property that serves the casino, asserting its sovereignty, and probably negotiating with the governor to expand its slots as did 4 other tribe. Anyone claiming that he stopped Casino expansion needs a reality check.
By the way, note that Victoria Pointer has been trying to duck her role in backing Prop 94 so that voters could ratify Arnold's deal with 4 other tribes. The passage of 94 is a very bad precedent for our SY Valley.
So if Pappas makes it to the next round he needs to acknowledge that he worked with others and he needs to also not claim a job is finished when it is only started.
I think that's the only point Duncan was trying to make and he made it well.
Posted on May 21 at 10:45 p.m.
You may be right about Smyser getting few votes. But Bearman will get very few votes. Farr has the support of Labor, Fireman, all the environmentalist. Doreen is also endorsed by both Bill Wallace and Gail Marshall who did a bunch for IV. But you can't blame all the ills of IV on the County. The University shares the blame.
As for Bearman, he's a nice guy but a spoiler and a wasted vote. He can't win but voting for him makes it more likely that we'll waste time and money on a runoff between Doreen and Smyser. That's money that could be put to better use for progressive races elsewhere.
As you said, you don't know or remember what Farr did or didn't do to include IV in Goleta boundaries. But it doesn't matter. If IV was in, cityhood wouldn't have passed and Firestone would have done to Goleta what he has done for the rest of the District, give a free pass to development and oil.
Doreen has said she'll restore the IV housing inspector, work on an unjust eviction ordinance and hold office hours in IV. Let's give her a chance.
Posted on May 21 at 8:10 a.m.
OK, let's inject some facts into these comments. Doreen Farr has been endorsed by all the top environmental organizations and leaders, starting with the local Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club which covers Ventura and SB County.
She's also endorsed by all the environmental leaders (as individuals not organizationally) including Linda Krop of EDC, Scott Bull of Surfrider, Michael S Brown of Channel Keepers, Mike Lunsford of Coastal Conservancy...the list goes on and on.
Smyser has repeatedly said he'd redistrict IV into the 2nd District because students care more about State Street than Solvang. Thus he reveals his ignorance that State Street is in the 1st District. And if he gets his way, then Goleta will have to depend on what Solvang wants because all future Supervisors representing most of Goleta will come from North County. That's a gerrymander we can do without.
I hope some of this penetrates the smoke screen put up by the flailing Smyser campaign.
Posted on May 16 at 1:10 p.m.
Imagine no more about who is on Smyser's side. Goleta Council members Onnen and Blois have endorse Smyser. These 2 have formed a majority with Bennett (and the Goleta Chamber of Commerce) for more development at Bacara, rezoning the Shelby and Haskell properties to luxury residential, and generally remove environmental protections from Goleta's plan. If Smyser gets elected you can expect the county areas all around Goleta - Bishop Ranch North, Goleta Beach, the Gaviota Coast - to suffer the same indignities.
The two Goleta Council Members voting against most of these changes, Wallis and Aceves, have endorsed Doreen Farr. So Goleta voters have a pretty good idea of who is on their side and who is on the side of developers.
Posted on May 16 at 8:37 a.m.
markjames comment is another example of a political hatchet job, calling Marshall a "sponsor" and attributing to Farr everything that Marshall might or might not have done. In fact Farr repeatedly has testified in support of preserving agriculture.
Another big lie that doesn't get any more truthful in its repetition is about Farr's role in Goleta's revenue neutrality agreement. Farr was simply a supporter of cityhood. She had NOTHING to do with negotiating the agreement. And she has publicly committed to renegotiating it when she is elected Supervisor.
Is your candidate Pappas so unqualified that you must make up stories and issues about others. Don't you have enough confidence in Pappas's own record and abilities to stand on those. Have you no shame?
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Posted on July 25 at 4:29 p.m.
If liberals are to blame for high gas prices, who is to blame for Enron, the mortgage meltdown, lousy health insurance, inflation, the billions we are wasting in Iraq, the immigration mess, etc?
Republicans talk about personal responsibility but rarely take any. Did liberals cause 3 mile Island?
No, liberals voted for the voting rights act, Medicare, child labor laws, fireproof pajamas for children...the list goes on.
Republicans basically believe in the golden rule: people with the gold should make the rules. It will be fun to see how many law and order Republicans and their donors have been evading paying taxes by stashing cash in Lichtenstein banks, now that their cover has been blown.
To me, a liberal is someone who looks out for someone besides him or herself.
On Capps Votes to Draw on Strategic Petroleum Reserve