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Opinions and Letters
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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.
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