Politically in Sync

Dear Nick Welsh,

I just want to tell you how much I enjoy your Angry Poodle column. It goes into details and fearlessly names names. Full transparency and disclosure assures the health of an informed, democratic electorate. Sadly, falsehoods, innuendo, and obfuscation abound in politics, both locally and on the national stage.

I graduated from UCSB several decades ago, being an eyewitness to the B of A burning and the subsequent events following the police riots. While in love with this area, I returned after my graduation in 1971 to the San Francisco Bay Area to find work and live. A little over five years ago, shortly after retirement, my wife and I moved back to the area we loved so much and settled in Carpinteria.

I didn’t know how spoiled we were before; we both read and enjoyed our daily paper, the San Francisco Chronicle. You can only imagine the culture shock when we moved down here and subscribed to the only local daily paper, the S.B. News-Press.

Unfortunately, the S.F. Chronicle doesn’t deliver this far south, and we feel the need for daily infusions about local events etc. from a local paper. We just grit our teeth and quickly skim over virtually 99 percent of the editorials and über-conservative columnists with few exceptions. Imagine my joy at discovering a more politically in sync local source of news, The Santa Barbara Independent, a breath of fresh air … and my favorite part is your column.

Should your weekly ever decide to become a daily, I would be the first in line to sign up for a subscription. Failing that, I will continue to be an appreciative reader of your paper and your column. Keep up the good work, so necessary in these unique and challenging times.