Poodle View on 2nd Race Start

(SBN-P Photos, 1/18/2006)

[ Excerpt from the "Angry Poodle" column in the SB Independent, 1/19/2005 ]

... To all you hard-core political junkies for whom the June elections seem an ungodly eternity away, have no fear. The race for the 2nd District supervisorial seat — long occupied by Susan Rose — is already here. If this seems intrusively premature to the rest of you, that’s because it is. Even though the first official filing date for the candidates is still well around the corner — February 13 — the first candidates’ debate has already taken place.

Things are moving so fast that one of the candidates — Joe Guzzardi — hasn’t even gotten around to announcing he’s running. In a typical election year, most candidates have had the good grace to wait until after the Super Bowl halftime show to start knocking on doors...

... The good news is that the four would-be supervisors who want to represent the 2nd District — which encompasses Noleta (“The Pretty Good Land”) and a good chunk of the City of Santa Barbara — are doing things differently.

Typically, candidates for any imaginable office hold their coming-out press conferences under the picturesque arches of the oh-so-photogenic County Courthouse. It’s convenient for reporters; it’s a cool backdrop; and it’s a big yawn.

This time, the candidates are selecting sites that subliminally and not so subliminally say something about who they are. Janet Wolf — whose claim to fame is the 11 years she served on the Goleta school board — decided to hold her announcement party at a Tucker’s Grove picnic area. After much speechifying by the likes of Congresswoman Lois Capps, supervisors Salud Carbajal and Susan Rose, and Harriet Miller (introduced as Santa Barbara’s “mayor for life”), the Wolf campaign served brownies to the attendees. What location could say “Goleta soccer mom” more succinctly? What spot could better evoke Goleta’s decidedly and determinedly suburban character? Nice choice.

Meanwhile, Das Williams — Wolf’s irrepressible and obstreperous archrival for the hearts, minds, and campaign contributions of Democratic voters — selected a More Mesa blufftop for his opening aria. It too sent a strong signal. That’s because More Mesa’s nude beach has long been regarded as nothing less than hallowed ground by longtime South Coast environmental activists, especially those who participated in Goleta’s good old days of guerilla warfare over growth and development. The only wrinkle in this subliminal statement is that during those “good old days,” More Mesa and much of the Goleta Valley lay within the jurisdiction of the 3rd Supervisorial District, not the 2nd. Not surprisingly, many old 3rd District war horses — former Supervisor Gail Marshall, and her assistant and political consigliere John Buttny, to name just two — were on hand to blow wind in Williams’s sails. And Williams himself invoked the name and spirit of former 3rd District Supervisor Bill Wallace — who more than anyone personifies those good old days — with such reverence one would have thought Wallace had kicked the bucket.

But such hair-splitting aside, the two sites provide a stark contrast between two candidates who no doubt differ more in style and background — a nude beach versus a family picnic spot — than in actual policy. Clearly, on style points Williams is more flamboyant and Wolf more subdued. Even so, some observers are still wondering exactly what fashion statement Williams was making by wearing a necktie bearing the image of a wolf — as in Janet? — at his announcement party.

Certainly, Democrats are anxious to avoid a bloodbath between Williams and Wolf in the June primary. When the dust settles, the party faithful need to be unified if they hope to beat Dan Secord — the sole Republican in the race and, until last week, a Santa Barbara City Councilmember — in the November runoff, assuming the election goes that long. Although by reputation Secord, a former Ob/Gyn, is at best an indifferent campaigner — better at delivering babies than kissing them — he’s not making himself an easy target for the Dems. His coming-out party took place last Tuesday night at Restaurant Nu in downtown Santa Barbara, a spot long associated with liberal Democrats who frequently hold their political and social functions there. Secord’s critics like to carp about the event being a $100-a-plate fundraiser, but that’s not true. There were no plates. It was all napkins and finger food. As partisan events go, Secord’s was a decidedly transgender experience. The evening’s emcee was the ever-ubiquitous and politically ambidextrous Larry Crandell — either a populist plutocrat or plutocratic populist — whose gynecologist gags failed to gain any traction with the relatively subdued crowd. More striking were those who stepped forward to sing Secord’s praises. The first was former Planning Commissioner Barbara Chen Lowenthal, the smart, feisty historical preservationist and lifelong Democrat. As a commissioner, Lowenthal frequently asked developers — and city staff — the toughest questions, and her “yes” vote was always one of the toughest a developer could get. Yet there she was praising “Developer Dan” — as Janet Wolf’s campaign manager James Kyriaco hopes to dub him — as a “good environmentalist.” Following Lowenthal was Pat McElroy, a captain with the city’s fire department, a longtime union leader, and until last year, a dyed-in-the wool yellow-dog Democrat. Although McElroy’s sweet words fell short of an actual endorsement — so subtle you wouldn’t have known it unless you quizzed him in detail afterwards — his angry departure from the Democratic fold (he’s now a registered Independent) speaks volumes about the intensity and nastiness of the power struggle taking place between the progressives and moderates within that party.

The last ceremonial shoe to drop will be that of longtime neighborhood activist and emergency planner Guzzardi, who has yet to decide where he’ll formally announce his entry into the four-way showdown. Given Guzzardi’s hard-line neighborhood preservationist constituency, I’d expect him to select a Goleta farm field slated to be rezoned for affordable housing...

 — Nick Welsh



angry poodle