Lompoc has taken a bad turn after good years of reconstruction.
Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann encouraged Lydia Perez to run to unseat Mayor Jenelle Osborne, a decline-to-state candidate (“The election is over, now can we all just get along?” Nov. 14).
But at the same time, Jim Mosby, a longtime Lompoc activist on the past Lompoc City Council and a Republican, jumped in. The Republican Party supported him, and the two parties acted like a vise to squeeze out the best mayor we have had for years and gave the votes needed by Osborne to Perez, and Mosby won because of Hartmann’s involvement.
Hartmann was after Mayor Osborne because she ran against her in the last Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors election, causing Hartmann embarrassment with the low voter numbers. Mayor Osborne did this because Hartmann stopped Lompoc from expanding housing to the west in new annexed farmlands to satisfy the housing requirements of the state of California. Santa Barbara and Santa Maria are doing so but not Lompoc due to a “no growth” policy by Hartmann. Infill is her position.
So thanks to Hartmann, we now have a “destroyer of cities” as our mayor with Mosby for four years.
Justin M. Ruhge
Lompoc
This article appears in Dec 26, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025.