Supporters, friends, and family of 4th District County Supervisor Peter Adam ate, drank, and made merry with the candidate in the upstairs space of the Far Western Tavern in Orcutt on the evening of June 7 as election results rolled in via televised news. Only the first round of absentee ballots had been counted and factored just before 9 p.m., Adam told the Sun, but the results were 70 percent in his favor.
Adam took the count as a clear sign of a win, and said that a victory by his challenger Eddie Ozeta was statistically unlikely, and that the turnout from 4th District voters was evidence of his local support.
“I think they appreciated me bringing the perspective that I bring to the board,” he said, “and they didn’t buy the arguments that the unions and the tribe made that I wasn’t effectively representing the people, because the people have spoken.”
Adam initially announced his incumbent campaign right after Thanksgiving last year, he said, explaining that Ozeta didn’t announce his campaign until March of this year.
Ozeta was reached by the Sun over the phone, though he said he didn’t want to comment on a win or loss until the final count was announced. He did express gratitude for the number of votes he did receive, saying he “never expected 29 percent.”
Ozeta also said that he understood why voters would pick a local over him, a transplant to the area, but he also reiterated some of his concerns with Adam as a supervisor, including expenditures for remodeling his office, the amount Adam pays his staff, and votes that may be affected by the campaign season.
“Are they really voting for somebody who is working for the district as a whole,” Ozeta asked, “or are they voting for a millionaire who works for the county part time?”
Adam, on the other hand, pointed to Ozeta’s financial support from unions and “the tribe,” as proof that community support was in his favor. Most of his contributions came from individuals and businesses, he said. Adam’s chief of staff, Bob Nelson, explained that more than $130,000 was spent on the campaign in television, radio, and internet advertising thanks to the contributions.
Nelson also said the fundraising was done without any large events or fundraising pushes, but that the Adam campaign received plenty of support from private contributors and local businesses. Adam said that his focus has always centered on how county policies affect the private sector and taxpayers, no matter what part of the county they are in.
“It’s an honor to serve the people of the county,” he said. “I was going to say the 4th District, but in the last election I made a point of saying, I’m not a geocentric supervisor. If you live in a different district, I represent you too. I’m for everybody in all the districts.”
This article appears in Jun 9-16, 2016.
