Gladly poisoning the well of government largesse

March 20, 2025

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

Apparently, I owe an apology to Santa Barbara County 2nd District Supervisor Laura Capps and 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson. I assumed they didn’t deserve a $56,000 raise because being a county supervisor is only a full-time job by design not necessity.

However, who knew these supervisors would find it necessary to assume the leadership role in the 1st District too even though Roy Lee is the supervisor of that district?

Last week, both Capps and Nelson initiated, hosted, and led a community forum on cannabis odor in Roy Lee’s district. Because Roy Lee wanted to attend, who could blame him, the meeting couldn’t be “just a forum.”

It had to be a special (read that previously unscheduled) meeting of the board if more than two sups are present. Nonetheless, Supervisors Lavagnino and Hartman did not attend because just four days later, the same subject matter was scheduled to be discussed at the next regularly board meeting, meaning Capps and Nelson wasted a lot of time and taxpayer money holding a superfluous meeting in a district they don’t represent.

Regarding the hearing on the obscene county supervisors’ raises, you should know that the supervisors strenuously objected to my objections to their obscene raises, including Supervisor Nelson.

That is, Nelson was for the raise before and after he voted “no” on the same. What do I mean by that? From the dais, Nelson stated that he and I share some of the same constituents and because I had “poisoned the well,” read that the public trough?, he couldn’t vote for the raise.

Hence, he didn’t vote “no” because voting for the raise would have been the wrong thing to do. Instead, he voted “no” because of public pressure which he clearly resented as much as he apparently resents me!

Nevertheless, my umbrage on this issue is not aimed at Nelson, because after all, he did vote no.

No, my concerns have to do with an ad by the Santa Barbara Republican Party praising Bob Nelson for “standing alone for taxpayers as he stood for fiscal responsibility by rejecting this reckless spending.”

For the life of me, I didn’t hear Nelson utter one word about reckless spending as it pertains to the raise because it didn’t happen. Furthermore, Supervisor Nelson has apparently no qualms accepting the raise despite the reckless spending it represented!

And, speaking of protecting the taxpayers, how is it that Supervisor Nelson also voted “no” on settling the lawsuit with American Medical Response (AMR) after the county’s failed attempt to steal the ambulance contract?

The board majority realized that having spent $11.1 million on this boondoggle was bad enough, and that spending even more money on a court case they were bound to lose would make it even worse, but not Nelson who usually votes in a manner consistent with conservative fiscal values.

But when he doesn’t, the public deserves to know, despite how the Santa Barbara Republican Party would spin the details of the matter.

Meanwhile, it appears that KEYT/KCOY woke up from a coma! Some two years after the county got caught trying to steal the ambulance service contract, the stations contacted me and others about the details of this $11.1 million boondoggle. Even though the board of supervisors had no choice but to settle the lawsuit after a local judge hit them with a 76-page injunction and the State Attorney General condemned their actions, Nelson still voted against settling!

Regardless of all that, the television stations are reporting that the ambulance rates are extraordinarily high, implying the ambulance provider is responsible for the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. The supervisors authorize the rates, which are the same for both county fire ambulance services and those of AMR.

There are lots of Machiavellian maneuvers going on nearly every time the supervisors meet. Taxpayers and voters beware!

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 96.9, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.