03 - Urgency of My Campaign

Continuing excerpts from Das' candidate profile...

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The urgency of my campaign

Today we face the realities of a Board of Supervisors who proclaim their concern for the community but act in ways contrary to our established environmental ethics and trample the values we share as a community. The current Board of Supervisors majority is focused on loosening environmental protection ordinances and diluting strong land use policies. They have systematically engaged in reducing public input in the process. I am deeply concerned that our County has strayed from the balanced perspective that leaders like Bill Wallace and Tom Rogers fought so hard to establish and uphold.

We are at a critical juncture in the history of our County. We need a voice on the Board of Supervisors who will not compromise with special interests in the name of cooperation and diminish our environmental quality of life in the process. We need someone on the Board of Supervisors who is more than a sound-bite advertisement for environmental and neighborhood protection. We need forthright leadership, and I will never shy away from speaking out when others try to take away what generations have fought so hard to achieve. It is not my job to build consensus on bad policy, but to stand against it.

Santa Barbara County, and especially the 2nd District, needs a Supervisor with the tenacity, passion, commitment and experience to protect what we hold so valuable: green open space, clean air and water, livable and compatible neighborhoods, and the opportunity for people to reach their best potential, regardless of their income. I have the proven track record to be that leader for the 2nd District.