I first met Bruce Porter at a Buellton City Council meeting. Before the Buellton City Council was a resolution asking the county not to count winery charity fundraisers as a special event.
Bruce was there representing the Red Cross and urged the Buellton City Council to approve the resolution. The Buellton librarian and nonprofit organizations appeared and requested a yes vote. The Buellton City Council voted 5-0 to approve the resolution. A council member requested the resolution be continued to the next meeting’s consent calendar for “minor” word changes.
I first met Joan Hartmann at the continued Buellton City Council meeting regarding the resolution where she appeared with the [Santa Ynez] Valley Alliance establishment—Gail Marshall, Bob Field, Mark Oliver, John Poitras, and Donald Gallagher. All of these folks urged a no vote. They argued the resolution was “premature” and the county would address this issue. The Buellton City Council rejected Joan Hartmann’s and the Valley Alliance establishment’s position and voted 3-2 in favor of the resolution. The resolution was also approved by the Solvang City Council 3-1 and Lompoc City Council 5-0.
It is true that at the continued Buellton meeting Joan Hartmann said she supports winery charity fundraisers and was looking forward to attending a Buellton Library fundraiser at our vineyard. If that is true, the question for Ms. Hartmann is why she showed up at the Buellton City Council meeting and urged a no vote on the resolution.
The question for voters is do you want someone like Bruce Porter who says what he means and means what he says? Or a lawyer like Joan Hartmann who plays the lawyer game of saying she is in favor of winery charity fundraisers and then urging the Buellton City Council to vote no on the resolution?
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2016.