Did you know that not “everybody has the right to live in Santa Barbara County”? That’s according to Karen Jones, candidate for the 3rd District county supervisor seat currently held by Joan Hartmann, contested by Jones and retired U.S. Army Col. Bruce Porter.
Jones described her two opponents as out-of-state federal retirees in a pejorative that shows her disdain for the educated and those with substantial experience in governance. Apparently you have to be born where she was to be qualified for public office in California.
Hartmann has a Ph.D. in environmental law and is a former attorney who worked for the EPA. Porter is a graduate of West Point and a Bronze Star recipient for his service during Operation Desert Storm.
Jones touts her experience with the Santa Ynez Valley Airport Authority (SYVAA). I have worked with Jones on the membership committee of the SYVAA and can say from personal experience that Jones is woefully unqualified for any position on a public board as she has shown an inability to perform any meaningful work, relies on the work of others and then claims the work to be hers, and regularly misunderstands what is going on.
Additionally, Jones has regularly violated provision of the Brown Act that allows the public to know the workings of public agencies. Jones has not published agendas or minutes from the public meetings of the membership committee as required, keeping the workings of that committee secret from the membership.
More egregiously, in September of 2019, she demanded that information discussed during a public meeting of the membership committee not be published in the SYVAA’s own newsletter, keeping this important information from the membership in violation of the Brown Act.
Jones then again violated the Brown Act by holding a serial meeting by email with all the other members of the board seeking support for her position.
Ultimately, Jones supported the cancelation of the airport’s newsletter, denying the SYVAA membership information on the activities of the board and her committee.
Jones’ actions towards fellow board members have shown her duplicitous nature in her scheming to force another board member to resign from the board. Jones cannot be a trustworthy member of a board she seeks to undermine.
There are only two well-qualified candidates for the 3rd District supervisors seat: Joan Hartmann and Bruce Porter. Choose one.
Robert Perry
Former Buellton Planning Commissioner
This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 5, 2020.