The race for the state Assembly’s 37th District seat is ready for you to judge—as are all the other races for that matter.
As for Monique Limón, she’s bailing and running for state Senate, because Hannah-Beth Jackson termed out—although if Limón wins, I wouldn’t expect any major changes. You know, kind of like when Salud Carbajal replaced Lois Capps as the 24th District representative in Congress.
Some of the standouts who want to serve as your 37th District representative include 22-year-old Republican Charles Cole, who claims that “PC culture” caused him to “take a break” from college. Cue eye roll. He also thinks he’s running against a bunch of cultural Marxists! So naturally, his daddy is getting his campaign together for him.
There’s also Democrat Stephen Blum, a professor of law at Cal Lutheran University who told the Sun he was taking “principled stances” although he wouldn’t elaborate on what exactly those stances included. He’s worried about overpromising and under-delivering. At least this way, he doesn’t have to deliver anything.
And let’s not forget the Ventura County supervisor who’s spent 20 years in politics and refused to tell the Sun how much money he’s raised for his run so far. Steve Bennett simply said, “I’ve raised a lot of money before.” Ohh! OK!
Don’t worry—that next campaign finance filing deadline is coming right on up!
Meanwhile, the grape and cannabis farmers are fighting over something called a terpene! Terpenes are essentially organic compounds—aromatic oils—that are found in lots and lots of plants, including cannabis and grapes.
Well grape grower Mike Testa is over it! When winemakers come down from Sonoma and Napa, Testa said, he talks “more about cannabis and what is happening in the county than I do about the damn vineyards that we’re touring.”
Oh my heavens! Current events and politics on the discussion agenda? What is the world coming to?
Grape growers in the Santa Rita Hills are arguing that cannabis terpenes can indeed change the flavor of wine by using a 2012 study that found terpenes released from eucalyptus trees can taint wine. Last I checked, cannabis plants didn’t grow to be 33 to 200 feet tall or have leaves and branches that can blow across acres of land. But what do I know? I’m not a scientist.
I also know I’m not a Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant. But you know who is? Brenda Maynard. And apparently she wanted everyone to know it the night of Nov. 24, when she was handing out “do you know who I ams” in an alleged tizzy of public intoxication.
According to a report from the Arroyo Grande Police Department, Maynard was glossy-eyed and slurring, calling officers “idiots,” and attempting to pull the Reese Witherspoon card.
“This is who I am,” she reportedly said while handing out a business card. “Oh you guys are in fucking trouble.”
I’m no police officer, but I’m going to go ahead and guess that she’s the one who’s in trouble—but we’ll probably never find out because the Sheriff’s Office will probably never tell us.
The canary knows she’s a canary. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 19-26, 2019.
