Political Watch: May 15, 2025

• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) recently announced the five regional winners of this year’s Congressional Women of the Year Award in the 24th Congressional District. “The 2025 Women of the Year winners represent the very best of our region—leaders, educators, advocates, and public servants who have dedicated themselves to uplifting others and driving meaningful change. From San Luis Obispo to Ventura, their stories are powerful reminders of the strength and spirit that define our district,” Carbajal said in a May 2 statement. “Each year, I am inspired by the extraordinary women who are shaping the future of the Central Coast.” Carbajal will recognize the winners by permanently entering the accomplishments of each woman into the official Congressional Record, preserving their stories and their impact on the community, according to Carbajal’s office. A future award ceremony will honor each with a special congressional pin. The five winners are: Alison Wales from Lompoc, JoAnne Meade Young from Santa Barbara, Lisa Kawamura from Arroyo Grande, Julie Rodewald from Los Osos, and Cherie Eulau from Ventura. A dedicated advocate for survivors of sexual violence, Wales was instrumental in establishing a 24/7 crisis hotline at the North County Rape Crisis Center and creating a prevention education program that works with local schools to reduce incidents of sexual violence. When Young moved to Santa Barbara in 1990 to become principal of Mountain View School in Goleta, she became the school’s first Black principal. Over the next 17 years, she served as principal of multiple schools. She also ran the Santa Barbara Spelling Bee for five years and helped found the Santa Barbara Martin Luther King Jr. Committee. Kawamura is currently president of the executive board of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Chapter of the California Faculty Association union. Through this role, she fights to ensure that her colleagues receive the pay and treatment they deserve, according to Carbajal’s office. Rodewald serves on the SLO County League of Women Voters board and launched the Empowering the Voters of Tomorrow, Today initiative, which registered or pre-registered more than 3,500 local high school students. Eulau taught for 27 years in the Ventura Unified School District and encouraged her students to get involved in the community, partnering with organizations like the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) on issues such as environmental justice and voting rights.

• On May 8, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) delivered remarks on the Senate floor to warn Senate Republicans against overruling the Senate parliamentarian, the chamber’s independent and nonpartisan referee, as they reportedly weigh ignoring independent rulings and moving forward with measures to revoke California’s Clean Air Act waivers, according to Schiff’s office. Schiff joined senators Alex Padilla (D-California), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, on the Senate floor. “If the Senate goes nuclear, overruling the parliamentarian, there is no telling where the Congressional Review Act will be used in the future, by Republicans or Democrats. Could the Senate merely vote to wipe out an entire four years of actions taken by a previous president?” Schiff stated. “We will not stand idly by as this administration fights to ‘make California’s air unhealthy again.’ We will fight this. We must.”

This article appears in May 15-25, 2025.