We, the
undersigned, are deeply disappointed by the Independent‘s endorsement of
Das Williams for 1st District Supervisor. The Independent could have chosen
a candidate ofimpeccable integrity, Laura Capps, Santa Barbara school board’s
president, who has campaigned on a platform of introducing reform and ethics
into our current supervisor swamp. A swamp, rare even for politics, where there
are no limits on campaign contributions or even quarterly disclosure
reports for citizens to learn who is bankrolling who and why.
Instead,
you threw your weight behind Das Williams, a ruthless local politico who has
been called out for his mendacity since the beginning of his career. Williams
lies as casually as the sun sets — whether about his role as the architect for
the county’s disastrous Cannabis Ordinance, its permitting structure, his
donors, or his ever-changing biography. You could also have chosen to be
neutral.
Nor did you note Williams’s history of vicious campaigning against women, be it against former supervisor Janet Wolf or coastal advocate Susan Jordan (where he photo-shopped a drink into her hand). These days, Williams employs surrogates, financed by his dark money PAC (funded by a good deal of cannabis and oil money) to smear Laura Capps with outrageous falsehoods. Indeed, Mollie Culver, who created this PAC, headed up Santa Barbara’s Cannabis Business Council, worked hand-in-glove with Williams in writing the deeply flawed ordinance. All singularly disqualifying.