Open letter to the second district

June 2, 2014

OPINION By TOM DAWSON

My wife and I have been attending the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors meetings weekly for the last year and a half (yes, we do need to get a life) because we have noticed a consistent increase in regulatory legislation and a decrease in business and prosperity in our county. Additionally, we have seen infrastructure degradation, especially roads, and a loss of our ability to use our property.

As we observed the board and commented on various issues, we noticed one outstanding supervisor, Bruce Gibson. I do not know him personally but his public record and public behavior give great insight into his agenda. One of our initial observations included Mr. Gibson’s seeming duplicity with regards to public comment, a period during the meetings when each speaker is allotted three minutes to give input about critical public policy issues. In many cases, this is scarcely enough time to establish one’s evidence for an opinion.

As chairman of the board, Mr. Gibson has the authority to reduce the allotted time if the agenda for the meeting is extensive. However, we have observed him limiting the presentations of those he views as contrary to his points of view while allowing others to loquaciously express their opinions. The feeling given is that diversity of thought is not allowed — one’s speech must be in lock-step to be accepted. He uses his position of power to silence the less powerful whose speech challenges the reigning perspective. Where is our freedom of speech, the foundation of all freedoms? If the people are not allowed to present opinions, discuss and ask questions about issues, this reigning perspective advances unchecked.

Nor does Supervisor Gibson limit his rude behavior to the public speakers. He also talks down to, belittles, and disregards the views of the supervisors whose opinions are not in agreement with his. For example, he pushed passed the real solutions offered by the supervisors of the 1st and 5th districts for the dry wells and drought problems. These solutions would have brought real and long-term relief to the people in need of water.

Using the current board majority to exaggerate a crisis, he has forced through a strangling moratorium which limits agriculture, building and land use, but has not provided one drop of water for those in need…all this while mismanaging water use throughout his own district. Los Osos and Cambria have ground water problems. I consider this to be a dismal failure of public policy.

Another apparently hypocritical venture is Mr. Gibson’s planting of five hundred new citrus trees on his land which will require approximately 30 acre feet of additional water per year. This action likely increases the value of his property, which he is selling, and has been accomplished before the new restrictive planting rules of the moratorium get imposed countywide.

Yes, he and his divisive board majority are working to put all of us under the North County basin moratorium regardless of our local conditions. He did not want to lose his land value so he planted early. Property owners in the North County, however, have lost significant value because they did not have this inside information.

And why must his land be sold? Is it a consequence of his adulterous affair kept hidden from his wife and the county for years? Other county employees have been required to resign for less than this. This looks like an attitude of being above the rules that others must live by. Yet, if a person will not keep their vows to their family, can they be trusted to uphold their commitments and oaths to the public?

Mr. Gibson has already broken the vows he took when sworn in to uphold and defend the Constitution. He and Supervisor Adam Hill joined an international organization which professes benign objectives of saving the world through socialistic principles and alterations of existing laws in local jurisdictions. The name of the group is the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). I have written several opinion essays, which are in the archives of CalCoastNews, if more information is desired.

This group is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) affiliated with the United Nations environmental program and promotes their ideas through local politicians and planners. The philosophy of these subversive underminers of Constitutional principles can be found in such statements as: “Isn’t it our duty to tear down industrial civilization?” (Maurice Strong); “Individual rights will have to take a back seat to the collective” (Harvey Ruvin). Additional information may be found by visiting FreedomAdvocates.org. In principle, land use and water use are the keys to obtaining local control.

Because Mr. Gibson committed to these ideas publicly, we can know that these principles are his underlying motivations. When his election ads promise to protect the Central Coast, constituents assume he is referring to the people. Research into ICLEI will uncover that we, the people, must take a back seat to the protection of open spaces, animals and snails. If I lived in the 2nd district, like I used to, I would seriously consider how safe I feel under his protection. I would vote for the man whose voting record shows that he is truly interested in local solutions for our local issues, not international agendas…the one who is still faithfully married to his wife of 50 years, Muril Clift.