ELECTION SECTION

All seven members of the Santa Barbara City Council announced
their endorsement of Janet Wolf for 2nd District
Supervisor. The endorsement was a slap in the face to her rival,
Dan Secord, who served on the council for eight years, until 2005.
Councilmembers said they want to work with Wolf on open space
preservation, creek restoration, traffic solutions, homelessness,
and social justice issues. Although all seven are Democrats, as is
Wolf, they insisted party affiliation had nothing to do with the
endorsement; noting that some of them had endorsed the Republican
Secord for councilmember rather than Democratic rivals in the past.
Wolf has also won the endorsement of four out of five Goleta City
Councilmembers.

Campaign financial statements released last
Thursday showed Janet Wolf ahead of her rival Dan Secord in
fundraising for the 2nd District supervisorial
race. He reported $330,306 in contributions and loans; she
reported $347,465. Wolf’s campaign accused Secord of accepting
Gaviota Coast developer money. The largest such contribution was
$4,000 from John Vallance of MAZ Properties, a Los Angeles-based
firm that owns more than 3,600 acres on the Gaviota Coast. Timothy
Doheny, an owner of Las Veras Ranch, which is in the process of
estate planning and possible development, contributed $1,000.
Secord declined to comment.

A record high of 88,488 absentee ballots were
sent out to Santa Barbara County residents at home and abroad last
Monday. This mailing marked the first of many shipments of absentee
ballots that will be sent out through October 31. This week’s load
alone nearly surpassed last June’s primary election record of
89,480 absentee ballots (out of 176,000 voters countywide), with
most of the ballots arriving at county addresses.

KCSB radio — 91.9 on your FM dial — will
simulcast Bill Clinton’s and Paul Orfalea’s
discussion about global leadership live this Friday afternoon from
Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre. The event — which runs from
1:15-2:15 p.m. — will also be Webcast live on kcsb.org.