The contentious issue of cannabis and the influence of special interests on the political processes dominated the fourth public debate — hosted by the Santa Barbara Independent and held at the Franklin Community Center last Thursday night — between challenger Laura Capps, president of the Santa Barbara school board, and incumbent Das Williams, both vying for the 1st District county supervisor’s seat.
Capps repeatedly attacked Williams for taking $62,000 in campaign donations from the cannabis industry over the past two years, just under $14,000 in the months right before the supervisors adopted the county’s cannabis ordinance. Capps termed Williams “a one-issue supervisor,” and held him responsible for what she termed the “most lenient regulations” in the state when it comes to cannabis. (Williams was one of two members of the board’s cannabis subcommittee and one of four votes in favor of the ordinance.) The supervisors, Capps charged, have been forced to spend an inordinate amount of time on cannabis in the past year, 15 times more than on homelessness, she claimed, and six times more than on housing.
“Are you on the side of the special interests or are you on the side of the people?” Capps demanded. “We need to curb the role of money in elections.”