Vote to Re-elect SupervisorJoan Hartmann

Residents of Goleta, Santa Ynez, Lompoc and points in between, please save our county and vote to re-elect Supervisor Joan Hartmann in the March 5 Primary Election.

Joan Hartmann is the only serious contender in the 3rd District race for county supervisor. She’s got a PhD, a JD, extensive policy and public service, years’ experience as a planning commissioner and county supervisor, the Sierra Club’s and Firefighter’s enthusiastic endorsements, and a track record in everything from parks and trails, clean energy, broadband for all, economic development, and helping kids, seniors, and her constituents. “Hardworking, smart, cordial, and responsive,” is exactly right.

In a sane world, that would be enough to guarantee a swift and civil victory. But Republicans and oil companies finally succeeded in their long-standing plot to remove UCSB’s student voters from the 3rd District as a step toward their ultimate goal of majority control of the Board of Supervisors and turning Santa Barbara County into a backward-looking petrostate.

Having to run in a newly formed district makes things trickier. If Joan Hartmann doesn’t win outright with 50 percent-plus in March against her two pro-oil opponents, it seems that Mike Stoker (the Trump official famous for the “lock her up” anti-Hilary chant) is contemplating what mischief he can do in the November election with PACs and unlimited donations to prop up the republican candidate, an investment banker from out of town, that he himself distains as a poor candidate.

Please vote and spare us from that fate.