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Election day: the races to watch

November 4, 2014
lynn compton

Lynn Compton

By KAREN VELIE

San Luis Obispo County Supervisors Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson are not on today’s ballot, but their leadership style could lead to a switch from a liberal board to a conservative one.

Supervisors Gibson, Hill and Caren Ray comprise a liberal majority. If supervisor candidate Lynn Compton, who won the June primary by more than six percent, unseats Ray, the board majority will switch to conservative.

Caren Ray

Caren Ray

In California, the numbers of registered Republicans has been falling substantially for more than eight years while Democratic numbers remain steady. Amid allegations of Hill and Gibson bullying and stifling public comment, in San Luis Obispo County the opposite is true with the number of registered Democrats falling.

In another close race, recent polls show Rep. Lois Capps in a close race with her Republican challenger Chris Mitchum. Capps has easily held the seat for 16 years.

However, because of redistricting, Capps alleged coverup of a fatal DUI and her close ties to Gibson and Hill, Capps’ Congressional seat is no longer a sure-fire win.

Former staffer Raymond Morua and Rep. Lois Capps

Former staffer Raymond Morua and Rep. Lois Capps

In response to the recent polls, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently purchased $99,000 in radio ads that attack challenger Chris Mitchum.

Amid allegations he constructed a coverup and has used public services for his personal needs, conservative Arroyo Grande Mayor Tony Ferarra is battling a last-minute challenger, Jim Hill. Critics of Ferrara asked Hill, the former president of the Oceano Community Services District, to run as a write-in candidate.

Nevertheless, it is highly unusual for a write-in candidate to unseat an incumbent.

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Congratulations, Lynn Compton, for taking on the establishment of SLO County and winning with dignity.


Last night gave a lot of hope to a lot of reasonable Americans who saw the light and were able to wheel in some of this lunacy.


Use it well Republicans, because in two years you too may be sitting on the sidelines. Hopefully, people will begin to see there is room for more than two political platforms. Maybe. just maybe, we will see some hope and change to believe in. If not, change it again and not’s not get stuck in it!


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Well, I’d say this is a good slam against the Tribune, Adam Hill, and especially Bruce Gibson for thinking they could force one of their liberal minions into a conservative district. Your collective hubris and electioneering is an insult to the memory of Paul Teixeira.


And one more thing Tribune, I wonder if Lynn Compton was a man, would you state that he is “a co-owner with wife of Valley Farm Supply”? I doubt it.


Congratulations to Lynn Compton and especially the District 4 voters. Gibson, worry about your own parched district for a change.


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If Lynn Compton was a man her name would be Rick Perry.


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“Supervisors Gibson, Hill and Caren Ray comprise a liberal majority. ”


Not so much… perhaps a Democratic majority, not close to a “liberal majority.” Just a little less evil than the more obvious evil conservatives….


Cal Coast News cracks me up….


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I think that you are making the same mistake in generalizing about “Conservatives” as they are in generalizing about “Liberals.” In both cases their are differences between those within a category. Also many who self-identify one way or the other will sometimes vote outside their own category on certain issues. (This is more common with honest individuals on either side and also more common where party support is less critical — e.g. closer to local levels of government.)


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I have a question, is Measure L one of those ones that needs a 2/3 majority to pass? What about Measure G?


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I’m serious. Don’t just like/dislike, answer my question I seriously don’t know. :)


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Ya P, that does seem like an odd comment to dislike.


if you go here…


http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/CR/Elections/November+4+$!2c+2014+Consolidated+General+Election/UENR.pdf


It’ll show you results, but also, starting with page 14, it’ll show you what a particular measure needs to pass.


L needs 55%, G needs 50% + 1


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I’ll take a stab. Education taxes can be hung around the necks of property owners by a much lower bar (55% not 66%) for the past several elections, and forever. As I recall, it took 3 tries of the pro-tax, pro-school bond people to get Californians to amend the Calif constitution and lower the bar of school taxes on property from 66% to 55% of voters, where as you can see such huge added tax burdens almost always pass. “It’s for the kids. We don’t spend enough on each kid”. (Currently hovering at or over TEN GRAND per public school K-12 child, and they can’t read or write cursive anymore, in some regions.)


As an example as I see it, local voters just rewarded the hugely tilted-towards-bloated-salaries Cuesta budget and board with piles of more money, just under a hundred bucks a year (and not worth it to me) on each property (residential) of mine subject to said district. We also rewarded their boneheaded, criminal mismanagement of necessary campus upkeep. “Let it decay, overpay the instructors, go to the public trough for more taxes, can’t get by on our millions annual budget”.


The campaigns which lowered the bar, was it 2000, were just like so many for the unseeing, uncritical eye of the general voter: you have school children running on a field, show close up shots of darling prop kids holding pencils to schoolwork, you have a firefighter or other public safety icon hold a child up to a drinking fountain. Do enough such ads, run three successive campaigns and you have the means to persuade the voters to vote the 66% needed to change the bar permanently for statewide education taxes down from 66% to 55%. Statewide we’ve added a FLOOD of public education taxes to the “below the line” (outside prop 13 protections) in jurisdictions statewide. I leave it to you to decide if mega-spending on education is worth it, is producing good results, is wise to chunk it in for the kids regardless of quality of result in our student.


If I misspoke, someone will likely correct, ignore, or trash me. I haven’t gotten a beating or a snide comment about my post name in WEEKS, come on folks!


That 66 to 55% requirement for passage change was a heartbreaker, in my opinion, because with very colorful school children advertisements, you could get people to vote 55% on anything.


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