Outgoing Santa Barbara Supervisor Das Williams Treated to Love Fest at Final Board Meeting
Former City Councilmember, State Assemblymember Departs County Board of Supervisors After More than 20 Years in Political Office
Santa Barbara County 1st District Supervisor Das Williams got a send-off from his fellow supervisors and friends this Tuesday that would have made Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa blush. And he gave it right back in kind. Williams is being forced to step down after more than 20 years in the political trenches as an elected office holder, having lost out in the March primary in his bid for reelection against challenger — and Carpinteria City councilmember — Roy Lee.
Much of the praise was what one might expect in such ceremonial circumstances, but more striking was how deeply heartfelt so much of the praise, affection, and acknowledgements felt. Williams was praised as a fierce warrior against climate change, an advocate for social justice, and a pragmatic zealot.
Lee Heller, Williams’s longtime friend, consigliere, and fellow Lord of the Rings nerd, praised Williams for his “granular competence,” and then translated that into plain English. “People don’t know how good you are at getting shit done,” she said, and then gave a few examples.
Tom Fayram, former Public Works director, co-conspired with Williams to get the Randall Road debris basin built in the deadly aftermath of 2018’s 1/9 Debris Flow disaster in Montecito. With so much death and destruction in the air, Fayram found himself on the receiving end of some very personal feelings. It got nasty. Williams was present at least one such meeting.
“Das stood up and put an end to that,” Fayram recounted. “I don’t know if Das remembers that, but I do.”
Supervisor Bob Nelson noted with surprise that Williams’s and his own grandparents attended the same church in Ojai. Today, he and Williams represent different sides of the proverbial aisle from the same dais. The experience, Nelson said, “made me a better servant.”
Supervisor Steve Lavagnino — with whom Williams shared the sobriquet “The Doobie Brothers” for their work getting the county’s still-controversial cannabis ordinance approved — recalled, “I didn’t want to like Das when he first got here.” (For the record, not one syllable was uttered on the subject of cannabis, the issue that proved to be Williams’s political undoing. The only remotely critical commentary was included in the supervisors’ official proclamation, where it was stated that Williams could get “preachingly righteous” at times.)
Williams won Lavagnino over when he mooched a ride in Lavagnino’s car for a trip back from Sacramento. Williams must have calculated there’d be fewer greenhouse-gas emissions, Lavagnino joked, if he horned in on Lavagnino and his wife. But Lavagnino teared up when he tried to read aloud the famous Teddy Roosevelt speech — “The Man in the Arena” — that he had blown up and framed as a gift.
When it was Williams’s turn to talk, he noted, “Well, the Bible would call this an embarrassment of riches.” Williams said his first memory was of being enraged that things weren’t the way they should be. It was “a deep rage,” he said. “I remember feeling that at 5.” Politics helped turn that around. Williams would serve on the Santa Barbara City Council, the state legislature, and the Board of Supervisors.
“Voters trusted me 11 times to make a difference,” Williams said. “I am so grateful to get a chance to do some good. That changed my heart from rage to love.”
