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Field of candidates taking shape in race to replace Capps

April 9, 2015
Lois Capps

Lois Capps

Three candidates have announced their intention to run in the congressional race to fill a seat that Rep. Lois Capps announced she would vacate at the end of her current term.

Capps released a video Wednesday in which she says that she will retire when her term ends late next year. Later in the day, former Republican candidate for Capps’ seat, Justin Fareed, and Democratic Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider both announced they would run in the 2016 congressional election.

San Luis Obispo farmer Bill Ostrander, a Democrat, previously announced he would run, and Republican Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian may join the congressional race. Rumors have circulated for more than a year that Capps’ daughter, 42-year-old Laura Capps would run in 2016 to replace her mother.

Laura Capps and her husband recently settled fulltime in Santa Barbara giving her the residency required to run for her mother’s seat. The 24th Congressional District includes all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and part of Ventura County.

Fareed received 15.3 percent of the vote in the 2014 primary election, narrowly losing to Republican Chris Mitchum in the competition to challenge Capps. Mitchum narrowly lost to Capps in the general election last November.

Fareed is a rancher, small businessman and a former UCLA running back. He describes himself as a fiscal conservative.

Schneider is currently in her second term as Santa Barbara’s mayor. She previously held a Santa Barbara council seat and worked in human resources management for Planned Parenthood.

Schneider sent out a news release Wednesday that praised Capps as an iconic leader.

Ostrander is an advocate of national campaign finance reform. He organized a citizen’s congress last year that discussed the issue.


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Lois won by the “pity” vote and now her daughter wants to hop on the gravy train. I would very rarely vote for the off spring of a politician. Al Gore is a prime example. I felt Mitchum was a horrible candidate, our district should be able to put up a good conservative candidate that can articulate conservative principles.


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Please ….name at least one present-day ‘conservative principle’ that would be helpful toward, and not harmful to, the little person.


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If by the “little person” you mean the “taxpayer”, then name me one democratic principle that has not harmed the little person?


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Did Lois garner a ‘sympathy’ vote early on ? Probably.

Later, she won re-election after re-election on her own merits, record, and qualifications.


The ‘pity vote’ has lately been reserved for the martyrs and dupes that call themselves Republicans.


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On her own merits? hardly she won in part because her district was drawn to keep her in office, and to keep voting the party line without question.


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‘Conservative’ and ‘principle’ are mutually exclusive …an anachronism like “jumbo shrimp”.


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Looks like a lot of democrat dinosaurs are leaving a sinking ship. They don’t like being in the minority and they know that will not be changing anytime soon.


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“Republicans are the ship. Everyone else is the sea.” – Frederick Douglas


I like this more contemporary quote: “Fox News and their Republican collaborators are the enemy of America ….The enemy of anybody that wants anything good for this country” – Representative Alan Grayson .


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Slow faster, instead of taking a dump on all things Republican, how about convincing us that being Progressive is solution for all that ills us.


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Won’t happen because democratic controlled California is much like a pyramid scheme, more and more being taken and fewer and fewer paying and at some point it has to crash. What those in control are hoping is the crash happens after they get theirs and then are long gone. At this point they will promise and give more and more to anyone willing to keep them in power and they will hedge their bets as to when to jump ship, hoping it is just before the crash.


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k-nut, …I understand your frustration, but think your blame is misplaced.


Who HAS the money ? What thieves have ended up with the loot ?

I can guarantee you that it is not Democrats …not most of them.


It IS the 1% of the 1%, the ‘Too big to Fail’ big banks and insurance companies along with their CEO’s and assorted 3-piece suit henchmen.


You just don’t know who your real enemies and oppressors are.


AFA as a ‘crash’ …it’s already here; but like the frog being slowly cooked until the water boils, most won’t jump until it’s too late.


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Check it out, the democrats have more millionaires in office in California. Now you can say well they have more members but it’s like the chicken and the egg debate. No matter how you slice it those in office have the money, and to change that would take those with the money to outlaw it from the political system and those in control, the democrats, will never change that.


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I would suggest that you broaden your scope.


Yes, there are some lazy feather-nesters ( in BOTH political parties ). They’re probably not the ones robbing you blind.


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Given the laws coming from them they are the ones robbing the taxpayer blind


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Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act(s), the Voting Rights Act, the EPA, the ACA .

These and many more progressive measures from the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the Great Society were all opposed ( and continue to be ) by an overwhelming majority of Republicans.

Republicans offer only stagnation, intransigence, and degradation of ‘the American Dream’ for all but their 1% overlords and masters.

This has been accelerated ever since the ‘Reagan revolution’, and now we are all seeing the rotten fruit from such backward policies.

Over the past 50 years, there has not been one piece of helpful, meaningful legislation put forward by Republicans that has benefitted Americans as a whole, but they have done much harm.


As for today’s progressive agenda: http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/progressive-manifesto


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the progressives, the people who first asked a question: is it proper to have a single family set the interest rate for an entire nation?


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Historically, Democrats promise too much.

Republicans promise nothing, and deliver.


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“Fox News and their Republican collaborators are the enemy of America ….The enemy of anybody that wants anything good for this country” – Representative Alan Grayson

Let me fix this for ya… Fox News and their Republican collaborators are the enemy of Islamic fundamentalist ….And the enemy of anybody that wants freebies from our country without working for them.


When you have to quote Representative Alan Grayson you’re really getting desperate….he’s a nut!


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This is fun ! Check these one’s out: “Republicans stand for raw, unbridled evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons and ribbons.” – Frank Zappa


“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” – John Kenneth Galbraith


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“Suppose you were an idiot.

And suppose you were a Republican.

But I repeat myself.” – President Harry S. Truman


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Whats up SF Having a bad day? You must have seen the latest poll numbers…lol you didn’t really think Hilary would be the one did you? Well it’s Friday and that’s something anyway. And in just a week your welfare check will arrive. Hang in there bud…


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If you liked Lois, as well as what she stood (up) for, you’ll probably like Laura. (If you didn’t, well…) Figure this, though, Laura Capps will hit the ground running in a way few new Congressional reps can. Most spend their first terms just figuring out how it works… as well as being manipulated by staffs who have their own agendas and/or are equally mystified. The junior Ms. Capps will not have the important committee seniorities Lois has had, but she will have the benefit of a staff that knows where all the bones are buried, as well as her own first-hand knowledge of the place. If one wished to =keep= Lois in office, this is about the closest one could get to that.


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You just gave ample reason to avoid Laura at all costs, another rubber stamp for the DNC without a brain.


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Meanwhile, the Bush gang is sending in the third idiot to finish Daddy’s war on terra.


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Not to worry, the terrorists seem to have an ally in office.


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#47traitors.


The White House petition to prosecute these 47 Republican senators for treason has well over 300,000 signatures.


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So, Laura will be the same nancy pelosi cloned sock puppet but with fewer wrinkles? Not what America needs.


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Actually, Laura was the brains behind the puppet. Anyone ever see Lois in our County, always carrying her stack of index cards. So, if you liked Lois/Laura, just keep voting that way it won’t matter anyway, democrats are out for a while! Can even save money because initials are the same, real bargain on spending deficit!


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Oh, well shoot, I did not realize she was entrusted to carry INDEX CARDS! This completely changes every vibe I get from her!


lol.


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There is one issue that needs to be addressed,and that is campaign finance reform on a constitutional basis. Attempts to tackle any other issue before this nation are crippled and tainted by big money in politics, with the results always benefitting the big donors. Politicians have become water carriers for a decreasingly small pool of big money donors, tying their political fortunes to these people and groups to the frustration of grassroots citizen activists and groups, who are the ones with a clear sense of America’s problems. As a result, the only politicians listening to the citizens are painted by the media and political establishment as extremist, wheter on the left or the right.


There is one candidate who is committed to campaign finance reform, and that is Bill Ostrander. Check him out.


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I say that true reformers should use what the Supreme Court has provided. Since the ‘Citizen’s United’ ruling, along with Buckley v. Valeo has equated corporations with people and conveyed to these fictions and inventions the same rights as citizens and opened the floodgates to unlimited campaign dumping ( i.e. buying elected officials and elections ) , that these same corporations should fall under the same tax laws and rates as ordinary individuals.

Use their own rope to hang them.


I have floated this concept to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and he thinks it has merit.


If you personally know Mr. Ostrander, run this by him and see what he thinks.


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Russ, changing anything relating to money is at best a no-win situation, at worst a Lincoln/McKinnley/Kennedy situation.


It’s like asking a bunch of lawyers (Congress) for TORT REFORM. Ain’t gonna happen. Not while they’re in power. So money issues are not going to change as long as money is in power, and money is always in power. Everywhere. We bow down to it without even realizing it. We can “hate” the Kochs but love Soros. We can despise “Big Oil” or “Big Pharma” but love “Big Government” and “Big Unions” – they are all about money, corruption and power.


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More false equivalency. George Soros has not been a major contributor now for several years, and his $$$ were miniscule in comparison to the Koch Bros. and Sheldon Adelson. The Koch’s have announced that they are injecting almost a BILLION $ into the upcoming cycle.

Same with Tom Steyer …who put 74 million$ into HIS OWN SuperPac . Sure, Steyer was the largest, so-called ‘liberal’ contributor recently, but one has to look where the $$$ really goes.


What’s up with the assassination threats ?

Seems like a red herring intended to scare and worry the low informed against real democracy and complacency towards the oligarchs.


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ANYONE would be better than Capps except Achadjian. Achadjian is just another toady. We need leadership and Achadjian isn’t it.


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What’s your gripe against Katcho ? He’s one of the few that call themselves a Republican I know that isn’t an automatic alveolus.


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Bring on the better candidates, hallelujah. However, the bar has been set fairly low. You could replace Capps with an old, dented aluminum trash can and get better results for the district and the country.


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Until Capps comes on this site to defend her record, I will have to agree with you.


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Or just tie a brick to the lever marked “YES – whatever the DNC wants” and save some money.


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I have to agree. Lois Capps was the ONLY Congressperson to vote NO on a resolution to free Iranian pastor Nagarkani from a death sentence for being a Christian. Bob Cuddy was her chief apologist who said the report was wrong, then Lois said she “pressed the wrong button.” Not a biggie – only a matter of life and death. Any Republican except Katcho would be better. “If you like your water you can keep it!” “My trip to Cuba wasn’t a secret – I just didn’t tell anyone about it until it hit the paper!” Ad nauseum. There has got to be someone with more integrity and a brain than that.Please!


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