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Who will succeed Paul Teixeira?

June 29, 2013
Paul Teixeira

Paul Teixeira

By KAREN VELIE

As San Luis Obispo County residents mourn the sudden death of 4th District County Supervisor Paul Teixeira, speculation has already begun as to whom might be appointed to replace him.

The names of several people including former Grover Beach Mayor Peter Keith, Oceano Community Services District Board Member Matt Guerrero and Arroyo Grande Councilperson Caren Ray are being mentioned prominently as possible candidates for the seat.

Teixeira died late Wednesday from a heart attack. His death creates a vacancy on the five-member board, which according to California Government Code 25060 will be filled by an appointment from Gov. Jerry Brown, a process that is expected to take several months.

Keith, a former Grover Beach mayor who lives in Huasna, said he plans to submit documents to Brown asking for the appointment. Keith said if he is appointed, he will remain in office until the term ends in 2014, but would not run for reelection.

“I would vote in the best interest of the citizens of District 4 and not what is best for me as a future candidate,” Keith said. “I am not going to run again.

“I am a very moderate Republican. I am delighted that Prop 8 has been struck down. I am a social liberal and a middle of the road conservative. Partisan politics is not a part of my makeup. I do not vote predicated on how my colleagues are voting.”

Guerrero said he is considering asking the governor for the appointment after several of his supporters recommended he vie for the seat. Guerrero is known as a moderate Democrat. He serves as the president of the Oceano Community Services District Board and the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District Board.

“I am trying to figure out what to do,” Guerrero responded when asked if he plans to submit a letter of intent. “There are a lot of moving parts. I would be stalling a career in the middle of it.”

Meanwhile, many local Democrats seem interested in a possible candidacy by Ray, who was originally appointed to the Arroyo Grande City Council in 2010 to replace Ed Arnold after he was forced to resign. Ray declined to comment on whether she is seeking the appointment.

“The only thing I am thinking about right now is Paul’s family and their grief,” Ray said “I lost my mother when she was 54, so I can honestly relate to their loss and my heart truly goes out to them. His death hit me unexpectedly hard yesterday because I know firsthand what it feels like to have your parent gone before their time.”

Marianne Buckmeyer, best known for her work with the environmental group Save the Mesa, is also being mentioned as a possible contender.

While the board is considered nonpartisan, the empty seat created by Teixeira’s passing creates a temporary split on the board between the two conservative supervisors — Debbie Arnold and Frank Mecham – and the two liberal supervisors – Adam Hill and Bruce Gibson.

In the past few years, governor appointments for supervisor have taken between two and four-and-a-half months. In Madera County, following the 2012 election of a sitting county supervisor to the Assembly, it took more than four months before an appointment was announced.

A visitation for Teixeira is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 298 S. Thompson Ave. in Nipomo, followed by a rosary at 7 p.m.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the same church, followed by a private graveside service at Santa Maria Cemetery. Teixeira supporters are planning a memorial celebration at the Alex Madonna Expo Center in San Luis Obispo, tentatively scheduled to begin sometime between 12:30 and 1 p.m.


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Why not put Paul’s working shadow, Deb, on the list? She has Paul’s working knowledge and can keep his will going until the finality of his term. Capps, Seastrand and why not Geaslen. Is our Board of Supervisors a greater task than representing our State or Federal Government?


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That makes the most sense. It is a little more than a year away, she is already there and more than capable of finishing out his term. Then let all these people who want to be appointed run for the seat.


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As I see it, Deb is the best choice to finish Paul’s term as he hand picked her and trusted her to manage his office. I’ve witnessed them doing lunch with note pads and certainly very professional. I don’t know much about Deb other than she is married and certainly worked to help Paul do his job. I see no reason to not let her finish his job, through the last day of Paul’s choice, the voters choice.


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FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO!!!


She’s married to Tom Geaslen, the recently fired general manager for OCSD, who, as a condition of keeping the information about his termination private, had to return $37,000 to OCSD.


Tom Geaslen said he was qualified to be OCSD’s GM because he could get things done because of his connections to Teixeira.


You can’t tell me Mrs. Geaslen did not know what was going on, and did not know that her husband was braying about being able to use his influence on Teixeira to get things for OCSD.


In addition, what experience does she have in governing? NONE. She’s a glorified secretary, and she’s only been that for a very short period of time.


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What a sad sad person you are to be so hateful and attacking when the Geaslen’s have just suffered the loss of a close friend. It literally made me feel sick to my stomach.


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I don’t think Caren Ray is an acceptable candidate for the open county supervisor position.


While her morality may fit in well with the board’s floozy-mongerers, I don’t think the county needs any more distractions with the type of scandals Ray carries with her.


CCN article: http://tinyurl.com/2dq6tz6


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Seriously?.

Comments like that are embarrassing to the writer and undermine the integrity of the discussion.

To reference a 3 year old article that was so full of misrepresentation that not a single news outlet in the county would run it or pursue the alleged story speaks to a goal of something other than sensible discussion.

A simple reading of wikipedia would provide more accurate information about the 75 year old social running group that Miss Ray may have been involved in many years prior. Sadly the the facts are of far less interest than the sensationalized article.

Yes, character does make a difference, I agree, but so does journalistic integrity of a writer or random forum commenter.

Aside form a fabricated scandal, I have heard nothing but high praise for Miss Ray’s skill and integrity in here 3 years as a city council woman.


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True Ms. Ray may be highly intelligent, but from what I have heard she is going to have to pass inspection on issues that might end up embarrassing Gov. Brown should he appoint her. Can you explain how these links below will make her case for maturity with the Governor. I realize that this is old news and most likely she has learned from this and grown, hopefully. But the evidence is still there.


This is the post by Caren Ray and photo attachment:

http://sloh3.comze.com/slohash/Message_6645.pdf

http://sloh3.comze.com/slohash/attachment.pdf

This is the mention of her students:

http://sloh3.comze.com/slohash/Message_5728.pdf

And the Santa Maria Sun article that spurred the above:

http://www.santamariasun.com/sports-lead/1685/everybody-in-the-pool/


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Good for you. For three years you have been able to save PDF copies of hacked messages from a private forum of a social fraternity. Then these illegally acquired posts are presented in snippets and out of context to attempt to suggest some kind of evidence. I wonder what texts and forum posts from the Masons, or the Elks, or Kiwanis or others might look like when subjected to the same selective editing and presentation out of context.

That is no better proof of alleged conduct than your post is of mature intelligent analysis.


The only document here that is readily available to view in its entirety, and not saved on some one’s personal hard drive for some reason of dubious motivation, is the article from the Santa Maria Sun.

I just took the time to actually read the article, everyone should!

It is an article about a dedicated coach at a poor demographic school where a broken swim team was rebuilt through dedication and inclusiveness rarely seen in high school sports. Note this article says she took all students and never made cuts even if they couldn’t swim when they arrived. Go ask any high school coach how rare that is. Im pretty sure even most of the track team knows how to run before they join. To take an article about team building and character building and the dedication of an educator and attempt to present it as something else is a malice misuse of any public forum.

A very sad state indeed.


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Your post is basically one big ad hominem attack against “Just Ducky.” Your accusations of “Just Ducky” having received “hacked” information is way out of line, as well.


In addition, to even attempt to claim major similarities between the questionable secret group to which Ray belonged and the Masons, Elks and Kiwanis fails because there are far, far more differences between Ray’s group and the other three groups.


You don’t know the identity of “Just Ducky.” For all you know, “Just Ducky” could be a member of the secret group to which Ray belongs.


It is one thing to be a member of a secret group with questionable special interests…it’s something completely different to want a fellow member sitting on the county board of supervisors.


In addition, to try to claim that saving information on a hard drive, for any purpose, is “some reason of dubious motivation” is absolutely absurd.


If anyone is


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This was far from an attack on the character of Just Ducky. I should be clear that in no way am I suggesting Just Ducky acquired the material illegally. It is my recollection that those PFDs were accessible at one time from the original story. Why someone would keep them is another question, but In no way does it go towards disputing the validity of the presentation. It was that dispute that made up the primary argument that was presented and overlooked.


The PDFs presented were saved from 2010 and not contemporaneous information. They are presented as a link from SLOH3, the local hash harriers group. That is a deceptive presentation. The fact is that the images are hosted as an alias domain on comze.com, a service designed for that. The type of site that is used to trick victims into thinking they are logging onto a place they are not.


Hacking is defined as intentionally accessing computer information without authorization. These PDFs are from posts on a private members only yahoo forum that was not open to the public. The administrator has acknowledged that that the site was a victim of unauthorized access which resulted in these PDFs which were then used by the article’s writer. By definition hacked images, not out of line at all.


For you to present the running social group as a questionable secret group is without foundation. The group has over 2000 local groups worldwide and is open to the public. One can do a quick search near any population center and find the schedule of the next run and an invitation to join, hardly secret. I offered no claim of major operational similarities between the groups, in fact, certainly the Masons are far more secretive. The comparison was that they were private social and fraternal groups, each having their own unique traditions and histories. I asserted that you could take their private conversations and behaviors out of context and present them in snippets and could arrive at a distorted view also. This was an argument against Just Ducky’s evidence presentation not his character

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I do think it is reasonable to question the motivation as these posts are presented as evidence that is still available but a close look shows that is not the case. It is represented in disguise.


But ultimately the bulk of my argument was that the only piece of evidence presented that is truly still out there and impartially presented shows Miss Ray in a very favorable light

.


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QUOTING 1INTHEMIDDLE: “Comments like that are embarrassing to the writer and undermine the integrity of the discussion.”


My opinion was in response to the article and prior information about Ray. She belonged to the group until she wanted to re-write history and dodge her own poor judgment and actions.


If you don’t like to read about Ray’s questionable moral judgment, then go talk to her about it. SHE is the reason for the discussion, not those responding to the article to which this message board is linked.


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Your response was your opinion to the article and prior information and that response was what I was remarking on. I would be interested in this prior information too. I know the Sun article was written prior to the CCN article. Her actual comments can be read there or in another Sun article written prior to the CCN article.


http://www.santamariasun.com/cover/1837/budget-woes-and-californias-cuts-a-history-lesson/


In fact you can find numerous articles in the tribune written about and opinions by Miss Ray during her time as a city council person. None of them present this wholly unique twist on reality that you use as the foundation for your response. Even in the CCN article, Miss Ray acknowledges previously participating in the local running social group but also indicates that is no longer the case because of the potential for people to misinterpret the group. This is certainly an example of that.


You are correct, Miss Ray is the subject. If one sets aside the single article that is full of unsubstantiated conjecture and takes a look at the entirety of the information available, a different image is clear. She seems to have an individualist approach to her public position and the character and intelligence to place the needs of the constituents above any particular special interest including her political peers. That is the character of a good leader in my opinion.


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I think Mike Winn should throw his hat into the ring. He has a successful history as a member of the Nipomo CSD board of directors and, almost as important, he is rock-solid on knowledge about water issues.


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It’s no slight to the mourners and grievers or the memory of the man who passed to immediately begin considering a replacement for Mr. Teixeira. The business of the county government continues and having adequate leadership in place as soon as possible is the kind of practical thing that any true leader would want happen in his wake. It’s more of a slight to suggest the Board can continue fine without him or a replacement


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