Santa Barbara News-Press


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TRAVIS ARMSTRONG: Is it Joe Guzzardi's turn?

February 5, 2006 7:07 AM
Could this be, at last, Joe Guzzardi's moment? He's running for 2nd District county supervisor in a race that's already heating up even though the filing deadline isn't until mid-March. Between 400 and 450 people attended a candidates debate in January ? or five months before the primary.

The general election isn't until November.

Opponents are working behind the scenes to pin Mr. Guzzardi as a perpetual also-ran, in hopes that public safety and other organizations doing endorsement interviews won't back him.

It might work. But a closer look at his unsuccessful bids for Santa Barbara City Council reveals that in at least one race, Mr. Guzzardi didn't run to win but wanted a soapbox to discuss his longtime passion, protecting our neighborhoods from overdevelopment and bad planning.

In another race, he told the News-Press in 1997: "My neighborhood, I felt, was under attack. I defended it. In the process, I thought, "I can't beat them. Why not join them?? ??

But city races also are tough for outsiders because of strangleholds a couple of well-financed camps have on these off-year elections, which, except in special cases, have poor turn-out.

The county's 2nd District, at least this time, may be a different story. Even in the 2002 race, the incumbent won by just a few thousand votes over a challenger who didn't put up a real fight.

What's been going on in the 2nd District, particularly in unincorporated eastern Goleta Valley, over the last years is a neighborhood uprising that's out of the control of the political parties and usual special interests.

They and their exasperated flacks are at a loss for what to do, so some are trying to bad-mouth residents who are just worried about the direction of their neighborhoods and want to protect the zoning rules already in place.

To top it off, the Democratic machinery is splintered.

A behind-the-scenes ploy by mainstream Democrats to clear the path for Janet Wolf, a longtime financial supporter of 2nd District Supervisor Susan Rose, back-fired.

Instead of letting them push him out of the way, City Councilman Das Williams came back with endorsements from some sitting and former Democratic officeholders of a bit less stature. You still have to wonder if Mr. Williams might pull out "for the good of the party," while extracting promises for support in other races.

It's hard to see some in the Wolf campaign really backing Mr. Williams if he manages to place in the top two in June. He's alienated too many of them with his behavior in November's City Council contest. Mr. Williams wasn't running, but he nonetheless teamed up with Mayor Marty Blum to try to oust incumbent Democratic councilwoman Iya Falcone from office.

In short, the party's an internal mess.

Mr. Guzzardi is a Democrat but he's not counting on the party machinery to help him come out on top in June.

Instead, he's capitalizing on his long ties to Santa Barbara neighborhoods. The demographics of the district, from the Mesa to San Roque, favor him.

Now "The Committees to Save Santa Barbara and the Goleta Valley" have formed to support him.

You could argue that the small geographic size of the 2nd District also means it shouldn't take big bucks to run a competitive race. It's also a race in which some donations, such as from developers, will become a big campaign topic. You can count on that.

So is it Joe Guzzardi's moment?

Yes, if he capitalizes on the disarray within the party, builds on his grass-roots support and longtime ties in the neighborhoods, while getting endorsements from public safety employee groups.

RADIO NOTE: You can hear my interview with Mr. Guzzardi at 10 a.m. this morning on AM 1290.

The current supervisor, Susan Rose, continues to refuse my invitation to appear on KZSB.

I'd like to discuss with Ms. Rose her governing style and how she reconciles certain votes, such as on offshore oil drilling, when she has held oil company stocks like Exxon Mobil and others.

Travis Armstrong is the editor of the editorial page of the News-Press.