Doubts About Porter

So who exactly is Bruce Porter, and what does he really stand for?

Porter claims to be a proud independent — but campaign filings show that he received more than $20,000 from the Santa Barbara Republican Party.

His campaign websites — he has two, apparently so he can present different faces to different people — pretend to champion green energy and environmental stewardship, and promise to end commercial oil shipping. But the local Republican Party relies heavily on contributions from oil and gas developers. It’s not a stretch connect oil and gas interests on the one end and Bruce Porter on the other.

Porter’s trademark seems to be a loose relationship to the truth. He first denied a connection with an Isla Vista Rock the Vote group, which was disavowed by the national Rock the Vote organization and then exposed for engaging in voter suppression … until his involvement was proven. Then he bragged about reducing the number of student voters.

Porter created a “nonprofit” organization, supposedly to help students transition to college life, using a third website. But despite claiming its mission as “work[ing] to help UCSB and SBCC students transition into college,” the website is nothing more than a travel guide of local tourist attractions. These are hardly the “resources” that new undergrads need as they transition to college life!

Porter’s campaign websites effectively plagiarize the positions that Joan Hartmann, our current county supervisor, has been working on so successfully.

Does he have anything real to offer?