Politics 2-19

Steve Pappas’s contest of November’s election, in which he lost the 3rd District supervisor seat to Doreen Farr, got off to a slow start on 2/17 as he sought to prove voter fraud. During his testimony, County Registrar of Voters Joe Holland, who said he’s seen nothing that would imply electoral wrongdoing, recalled for the court that Pappas attorney Jeffrey Lake had “boasted fraud to the media” before ever contacting Holland’s office. (/pappas219)

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Elton Gallegly and Lois Capps-who represent chunks of Santa Barbara County as the congressional representatives of California’s 24th and 23rd districts, respectively-put decidedly different spins on the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed by President Barack Obama on 2/17. Gallegly voted against it, saying it will burden citizens with debt when infrastructure spending and tax relief would have done more to solve the national economic crisis. Capps supported the bill and, while calling it imperfect, praised it as a remarkable step forward that would create up to 4 million jobs.