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Is SLO County’s League of Women Voters nonpartisan?

April 11, 2022

By KAREN VELIE

While the San Luis Obispo County League of Women Voters is officially a nonpartisan organization, it has been criticized for promoting left-leaning issues. As a nonprofit, the league is required to be nonpartisan, though it can take sides on issues.

The local league’s leadership regularly voices support for issues promoted by Democrats on the SLO County Board of Supervisors, while arguing against Republican viewpoints, said Andrea Seastrand, a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“They are not nonpartisan, they always support progressives and their issues,” Seastrand said. “Check out their national website and the positions they have taken, it is all there.”

During the past several years, league officials have voiced support for Democrat Supervisor Bruce Gibson’s choices regarding clerk-recorder, redistricting, reducing off-road vehicle recreation at the Oceano Dunes and a proposed charter.

CalCoastNews researched the league’s leadership, which is composed of nine people: seven Democrats and two decline to state, with no Republicans. Board members include Susan Devine, a  former campaign manager and administrative assistant for former SLO County Supervisor Adam Hill, a Democrat who committed suicide in 2020 after FBI agents raided his home and office.


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Hmm. Not exactly a Man-Bites-Dog story, but good to see it finally out there.


4

Mention of Susan Devine, spouse of Harbor Commissioner Bob Vessely who has been in the news for violating the brown act, harassing and bullying employees and was reprimanded by the board in in public meeting.


17

Back in early 90s I was wronged by local and state government employees .I contacted Andrea Seastrands office asking her to look into the situation I was in . Her office did a 5 month investigation and issued me a report of their findings which stated that I had been severely wronged . The California attorney general agreed to an out of court cash settlement .I was truly impressed how Andrea and her office handled the situation and spending time to look into a citizen requesting help of an elected government official


24

Her late husband, Assemblyman Eric Seastrand, also ran a fine office and helped many constituents in the 1980s.


0

Oh, it must be true because Andrea Seastrand says so…


-42

Who cares what these people are doing… Go vote if you care about the issues. Create your own league. Complaining about them isn’t going to solve anything at all.


-27

NOTHING in SLO County is nonpartisan—NOTHING.


52

“voiced support for Democrat Supervisor Bruce Gibson’s choices regarding clerk-recorder, redistricting, reducing off-road vehicle recreation at the Oceano Dunes and a proposed charter”


First, it should be “Democratic Supervisor Bruce Gibson.” It is the Democratic Party, not the Democrat Party. This is a misnomer originally started by Joseph McCarthy and then picked up by Rush Limbaugh many years later. Both McCarthy and Limbaugh loved to emphasize the “rat” at the end of the word. The use of it by Miss Velie shows her obvious bias.


Second, the League of Women Voters can take any position they want on the issues. In the cases stated, they are expressing widely held views by at least 50% of the voters. They are no more biased than many churches (both are non-profit) in this nation who often promote the right wing agenda. Just watch TBN for a few hours if you think I’m wrong.


The Republican strategy to criticize every facet of our democratic institutions (yes, I include the league in that company because they have consistently and transparently attempted to bring valuable information to the voter) will eventually end in chaos and dictatorship. Of course, maybe that’s what the lemmings on the right want.They’d rather simply be told what to do by oligarchs rather than engaging in the messy business of democracy.


-52

Talk about showing someones obvious bias……..


34

I guess some on the left can’t handle the facts when it smacks them in the face. Why attack Ms. Velie? The L.W.F. are partisan and the facts prove it. TBN is just like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS. PBS, NYT, AP, Washington Post, Salon, Twitter, Facebook, GoFundMe and many others that continually promote misinformation and the left-wing Progressive/Socialist agendas. There’s nothing transparent about any of these or the lemmings that follow and support them. They all are the real threat to our nation’s democracy. But it’s already been you proven; you can’t handle the facts. Many call that, hypocrisy and blinded ideology. Both fit those of the left perfectly.


13

You forgot TRIB and NEW TIMES. Understandable though because both are very forgettable.


13

Haven’t read a New Times for years and only pick some up when I need some free packing materials.


9

Go start your own newspaper if you don’t like this one


-4

Then where would I get my free packing materials?


3

It should in fact be “Democrat Bruce Gibson”. The party is the Democratic Party, the individual member thereof, Bruce Gibson in this case, is a Democrat. This is in fact different linguistically than I am a Republican and member of the Republican Party. “Democrat Party” was a Limbaugh-ism to express his view that it was not “democratic”.


0