All About Integrity

On my list of 2020 New Year goals, I am vowing to work for candidates for public office who represent integrity and decency, something too rare in today’s politics. One candidate I am supporting is Laura Capps for county supervisor. She is all about integrity. It’s in her blood.

I first met the Capps family in the 1970s, when I was a senior at UCSB, and I took a religious studies class from Walter Capps. I learned from him about the importance of integrity and truth-telling in public leadership — integrity that was scarce during those Vietnam War years. I saw that integrity in Walter Capps. A couple decades later I was thrilled to vote for him, and then for his wife, Lois, for Congress. I knew it was a rare thing to be represented in Congress by someone with their integrity intact, with no secrets, no under the table contributions or backroom deals. They were committed to the common good, not one industry or interest group — public servants who brought honor to politics. Imagine that!

I came to see that same commitment in Laura, from the get-go — as a White House staffer, as a member of Teddy Kennedy’s Senate team, and now as a member of our School Board and a candidate promoting transparency in our county government — she is a person of integrity and truth-telling.

She has been consistently willing to go out into the public fray on behalf of our children, education, health, the planet’s health, ending hunger, ending poverty. Laura has always been committed to the common good, not one industry or interest group.

Laura is a public servant who brings honor to politics. I’m proud she’s on my list.