Mayor, council candidates mix it up at forum
A day after Iya Falcone was disqualified from appearing on the November ballot because she failed to gather the necessary 100 signatures, she joined four official mayoral contenders at a lively candidates forum Friday night at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree resort on Santa Barbara’s waterfront.
Titled, “So You Think You Can Run the City,” and organized by the South Coast Community Coalition, Falcone briefly addressed the controversy surrounding her disqualification.
“There have been some glitches with my signatures,” Falcone said. “I plan to do an investigation. By the middle of next week I will have some answers.”
It would take a court order for Falcone’s name to get on the ballot after she came up five signatures short of the necessary 100 needed to qualify for the ballot.
A mayor’s race without Falcone, a two-term councilwoman, would have been an unthinkable scenario just days ago. The top fundraiser with $63,000, Falcone has had her eyes on the mayor’s seat for years.
After Falcone briefly addressed her situation, she joined mayoral candidates Steve Cushman, Dale Francisco, Isaac Garrett and Helene Schneider in a fast and furious forum. Moderator Phil Bugay, a former Santa Barbara City Councilman, asked the mayoral hopefuls a wide range of questions on topics such as the city’s living wage, a proposal on the November ballot to lower building heights and whether the candidates believe the city has a gang problem.
More than 150 people attended. At different points in the forum, the audience applauded Schneider, Francisco and Garrett for their answers to questions. Cushman, who mixes humor with a common-sense, street-smart appeal, had the audience laughing, particularly because he frequently began his answers with the phrase, “So if I were king. . .”
On the city’s living wage ordinance, which calls for some city workers to earn $14 an hour with no benefits, $12 an hour with mid-level benefits and $11 with full benefits, only Francisco openly opposed the ordinance.
“It’s a terrible idea,” Francisco said.
Cushman, president of the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce, said the living wage was fine for city workers, but adamantly opposes any attempts to require private businesses that contract with the city to pay the wage amount.
The candidates split on Measure B, the November ballot initiative that if passed would lower maximum building heights in the city’s El Pueblo Viejo District from 60 feet to 40 feet.
Francisco supports it; Falcone, Cushman and Garrett oppose it. Schneider declined to take a public position. Bugay, who for most of the earlier part of the night challenged the candidates to be more specific, surprisingly did not press Schneider to state her position. She simply said she would support the will of the voters.
Measure B is a politically sensitive area for the candidates. More than 11,000 city residents – likely voters – signed a petition in favor of lowering building heights. But developers, property rights advocates and affordable housing activists – groups that fund campaigns – are largely in opposition to the proposal.
All of the candidates agreed that Santa Barbara has a gang problem, however Schneider noted that the problem is not as bad as it is in places such as Oxnard. In Santa Barbara, she said, the city must combine early intervention with enforcement to address issues related to youth violence.
Cushman, in an example of his plain-speaking appeal, said “when one child is killed by another child, it’s a gang problem.” Cushman too said early education with children is a key and that when children enter school they should be ready to learn.
A couple of the more light-hearted moments of the night came when the candidates were asked what they would do to reform Sacramento.
Schneider got an ovation when she said she would lower the percentage that it takes for lawmakers to approve the budget from two-thirds to 55 percent. Garrett, a real estate broker, had the audience laughing with his answer: “I would throw out all the rascals in both Houses,” he said.
Earlier in the evening 12 candidates for Santa Barbara City Council debated the issues and answered many of the same questions as the mayoral candidates.
David Pritchett, an environmental scientist and fiery community activist, took the most risks with his answers, at one point challenging John Thyne on one of his statements and even going after the moderator’s line of questions.
When Thyne, an attorney and real estate broker, said he supported a gang injunction, Pritchett fired back and said “a gang injunction is a cheap sound bite.” Pritchett said early intervention and suppression were important.
When Bugay asked whether candidates who supported the $14-an-hour living wage would philosophically support a possible $20-an-hour living wage, Pritchett said it was a “silly question” and that “this is a big distraction of our public debate.”
While many had initially considered Pritchett to be a longshot candidate, he has gained momentum in recent days, particularly after the demise of Olivia Uribe’s candidacy. The Santa Barbara County Democratic Party endorsed Uribe over Pritchett even though he sits on the party’s board of directors. But Uribe dropped out of the race mysteriously after she was apparently ousted by the Santa Barbara County Action Network, where she worked as associate director.
Like the mayoral candidates, all of the council hopefuls agreed that there was a gang problem in Santa Barbara. Thyne is the only one calling for a gang injunction. Incumbent Grant House said the answers to the gang problems are intervention, prevention and suppression.
In addition to Pritchett, Thyne, and House, council candidates include Harwood “Bendy” White, Justin Tevis, Michael Self, Bonnie Raisin, Cathie McCammon, Frank Hotchkiss, John Gibbs, Dianne Channing and Lane Anderson. Homeless advocate Bob Hansen is also running for mayor, but he was not present at the mayor’s forum.
This year’s election is a mail-in ballot, but a handful of voting places will be open on Nov. 3.
Comment on this article
Problems : 8/15/2009
So Councilmember Falcone think she can run the city? But she can't get it together to qualify for the ballot?
Top Fundraiser?? : 8/15/2009
Santa Barbara City Council members Iya Falcone and Helene Schneider are in a virtual dead heat when it comes to raising money to finance their campaigns to become the city's next mayor." --Craig Smith. "Mayoral Candidates, Show Us The Money"
: 8/15/2009
Iya isn't a bad person but this was a BIG mistake.
Dale for Mayor : 8/15/2009
I wonder if Councilmember Francisco will impress us in his next financial statement? I wouldn't be surprised.
Can you say Doofus? : 8/15/2009
Iya delegated an important task to a doofus. Now she is paying the price.
Jeff Smith
: 8/15/2009
perhaps doufii?
next financial report? : 8/15/2009
When is the next financial reporting? A propos of Dale for Mayor (and thinking of the recent N-P glow article on sometime Montecitan Wolfswinkel) I bet dollars to donuts we'll see some big Texas money reported.
SB voter
"Living Wage" is a dead issue : 8/15/2009
I was at that forum Friday night. Why these Republican organizers kept bringing up the "living wage" ordinance from many years ago was just absurd. No one is talking about this because it is settled law in the city. No one is proposing to raise this minimum wage to $20 an hour as the forum host kept saying. This seems like these Republican organizers are just apoplectic that any minimum wage exists at all. That council candidate Pritchet probably was saying that the question was silly because the total money spent on the higher wage is trivial compared to how the city pisses away big bucks on dubious plans and projects.
World Trade Federation
You're the rascal, not, am not, am...... : 8/16/2009
Ah. The perfect setting for a partisan republican "conservative" forum, Fess Parker's Red Lion. This new "Coalition" appears to be an old coalition of republican elders providing a special platform for their usual elephant plop in the guise of "multi-sided political conversation." Great! Anyone running their campaign on financial reform needs to produce a before and after recession personal net-worth balance sheet. There needs to be proof of financial prowess that would be brought to city hall before considering voting for these self-proclaimed reformers. The "rascals" that caused this downward spiral are regressive conservative policies. Conservative federal policies, the established "trickle down" now upside-down financial pyramid scheme is the cause of this current recession/depression on a world wide scale right down to city hall and your own wallet. Big financial engines like Santa Barbara and California would understandably take proportionally larger hits to their economies. Remember the big "tax" on "you" is still going to war profiteers and oil companies, U.S. and foreign alike. It will be a very long time before we are able to stop paying for the conservative 2001 TRILLION dollar tax break to the TOP 2%. So let's not forget who the "rascals" are. Let us not vote for regressive candidates looking for scapegoat issues like 60' bulildings, bulbouts, marrying homosexual and "living wages." These are all valid discussions but be careful which "rascals" you through out. Remember it is regressive conservative policies that are the problem. Don't vote for irresponsible regressive fear mongering homophobes nationally or locally. Vote Progressive!
Don McDermott
DALE FOR MAYOR : 8/16/2009
So, it's OK for the other mayoral candidates to take tens of thousands of dollars in local union and developer money, but somehow it's wrong for a life-long Santa Barbaran to write some checks to help candidates who want to preserve the city? Gimme a break!
santabarbaraforever
Forum, Falcone etc : 8/16/2009
It would be too bad if Mrs Falcone were disqualified over the signatures issue. She made sense to me on various subjects at the forum at the DoubleTree on Friday. Steve Cushman does a good job for the chamber but he may not be mayor material. I was surprised that David Pritchett was making sense. I thought he was an EDC type environmentalist liberal. He had solid ideas about raising revenue for the city and was informed about city policies. He didn't play nice with the moderator but maybe that's what this city needs, someone to fight Sacramento for our property taxes. I am waiting for a forum about Measure B.
Dr. M
Even Liberals know how to cut expenses and raise revenue : 8/16/2009
Dr. M, sometimes even a candidate from the liberal-enviro base in Santa Barbara know what he is doing. These ideological and partisan stereotypes do not work in the city council election. I am looking forward to seeing this candidates forum on the public TV channel 21.
No Cheap Sound Bites, Please
DALE FRANCISCO FOR MAYOR : 8/16/2009
Dale Francisco is the only mayoral candidate with the guts to take a stand for fiscal sanity and stand up to the powerful special interests, like the public employee unions and big developers who are bleeding us dry.
village voice
Iya : 8/16/2009
I still can't believe Falcone showed up. It's good they didn't specify candidates that qualified for the ballot. Lawyers like John Thyne and Iya Falcone always find the loop hole (or at least try to).
Not A Violation When I Do It
RE: Not A Violation When I Do It : 8/16/2009
unscrupulous lawyers? no!!
: 8/17/2009
You guys LOVE covering the most outspoken, obnoxious candidate.....Pritchett.
Straight-Talk Mavericky Change We Need : 8/17/2009
outspoken: Adjective. 1. saying exactly what one thinks: an outspoken critic of human rights abuses. 2. spoken candidly: she is known for her outspoken views
Gang denial : 8/17/2009
"however Schneider noted that the [gang] problem is not as bad as it is in places such as Oxnard." Hence, the reason it still exists - self satisfaction without fixing the problem.
Stop the spin : 8/17/2009
Anyone that is not in lock step with the radical progressive socialist agenda is labeled a "Republican" and dismissed. This was a non-partisan hosted forum. From the South Coast Community Coalition website: the South Coast Community Coalition exists to promote public discussion of issues critical to the welfare of all south coast community stakeholders; and to encourage the participation of individuals in pubic policy. The Coalition is strictly non-partisan.
falcone is a croney : 8/17/2009
not getting 100 verified signatures and then trying to use her union push to still get on the ballot? she has no real chance at winning and her being on the ballot only helps dale with his inevitable victory.
politico
Right Wing Conspiracy Spin : 8/17/2009
"Please join Dr. Dan Secord, Phil Bugay, Lynda Fairly, Scott Burns, Gina Perry" taken off the "coalition" website link provided here >>> http://www.facebook.com/pages/South-Coast-Community-Coalition/105391797225?v=info&viewas=0#/pages/South-Coast-Community-Coalition/105391797225?v=wall&viewas=0 Sounds fairly partisan to me. I really wish we had a non-partisan election but the far right has pushed for partisan local elections for as long as I can recall. Again liberals must be very careful about the "spin" and candidates that have cast unions and our "liberal" council members as maligners. Again be careful about crybaby candidates and spurious issues. Signing up with candidates that are using these emotional wedge issues such as bulbouts, 60' buildings, gangs, the worldwide economic failure are all ruse to elect a far right wing council. We have a right wing conspiracy right here in lil'ol Santa Barbara. If you don't beleive me please recall the 8 years of federal right wing activities during the most previous Bush/Chenney administration.
Don McDermott
hounddog : 8/17/2009
Steve Cushman is NOT a fiscally responsible candidate. He wants to make it easier for the politicians at the state level to raise our taxes. VOTE DALE FRANCISCO!
DALE FRANCISCO FOR MAYOR
Outspoken Pritchett : 8/17/2009
Pritchett deserves the attention. He is clearly the frontrunner when it comes to intelligence and energy and guts. Channing is nice but maybe too nice. Thyne isn't trustworthy because of his criminal behavior. White should go back to playing tennis and attending the symphony. Uribe and Pritchett would have been great together. When will we know Falcone's fate?
Downtowner tired of tagging and hoping for public safety
outspoken pritchett did not make any good points : 8/17/2009
pritchett and annoying go hand in hand, not intelligence. he reminds me of the whiner on the playground who is always trying to get everyone else in trouble or backtalk the teacher. he really is the last thing this city needs, another arrogant city council member.
frog of the creeks commission
: 8/20/2009
Mr. Thyne could face 180 days in jail for violating his probation.
the law is blind? : 8/21/2009
They should throw the book at Thyne as hard as it was thrown at Paris Hilton. Socialites unite!
just sayin'
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