Nick Welsh, Author at The Santa Barbara Independent

By Nick Welsh | Thu May 25, 2006 | 12:00pm

Vandetta Politics

Sheriff’s Race Rocky as Four Candidates Square Off

Remember the chaos theory head-scratcher about the flap of a butterfly’s wings causing a hurricane on the other side of the planet? In November 2004, the favorite adage of barstool philosophers was rewritten in the inner sanctum of Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson’s department as the “bitch-slap effect.” Eighteen months after good-old-boy posturing between Sheriff’s Council insiders became a physical scuffle that ended when Montecito millionaire James Towle “bitch-slapped” high-rolling Hope Ranch resident and council president-elect Chris Edgecomb in Anderson’s presence, the looming June 6 primary election will determine whether the “bitch-slap”-the term used by Edgecomb in official reports-will result in an election hurricane or whimper.

By Nick Welsh | Thu May 18, 2006 | 12:00pm

Energy Fracas Fricasseed

Around the same time the California Democratic Party embraced an energy platform written almost entirely by the Community Environmental Council (CEC)-Santa Barbara’s oldest environmental think tank-a Washington, D.C., public policy organization announced it will air TV ads in Santa Barbara disputing the existence of global warming and decrying efforts to curtail carbon dioxide emissions as economy killers. Produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the ads’ punch line is, “Carbon dioxide: They call it pollution. We call it life.”

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu May 18, 2006 | 12:00pm

The Da Vinci Dog and the Canine Code

BASTA: Okay, I admit it: Long before construction even started, I’ve had it in for the monumentally silly new parking garage that’s recently erupted behind the Granada Theatre. It’s been explained to me a million times that this aesthetically overwrought and hyperventilated, five-story, $24.5 million parking lot is the second coming of sliced bread and Swiss cheese-not to mention the salvation of upper State Street-but such arguments fail to penetrate the perimeter of my cranial fog. The way I see it, upper State-the stretch between Carrillo and Sola-has been thriving very nicely without divine intervention of massive publicly financed construction projects.

By Nick Welsh | Thu May 11, 2006 | 12:00pm

Wrong Way, Armstrong

Capping two tumultuous weeks for Santa Barbara’s daily newspaper, News-Press editorial writer Travis Armstrong-famous for his blistering opinions-was arrested for drunken driving late Saturday night after police noticed him driving the wrong way down one-way Santa Barbara Street.

Angry Poodle By Nick Welsh | Thu May 11, 2006 | 12:00pm

Le Chien Canadienne

SPARE ME: At first I dismissed it as just another campaign-trail brain fart. Then I figured it had to be political code-speak, coyly calculated to curry favor with the anti-immigrant voting bloc. Afterwards Sheriff Jim Anderson assured me at some length it was neither. But the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that it was both.

Cover Story By Nick Welsh | Thu May 11, 2006 | 12:00pm

UCSB’s Most Dangerous Professor

Dick Flacks is situated comfortably in his living room, the legendary ground zero of Santa Barbara’s progressive politics. Dressed in a loose, beach-bum T-shirt with broad horizontal stripes, blue jeans, and fleece-lined slippers, Flacks leans back into his couch. It’s a ridiculously beautiful Sunday afternoon, and Flacks is preparing for his retirement party, an exaltation of his career as activist and academic-a two-day event billed as Flacks Fest. But at the moment, Flacks seems a little miffed. Somehow, he was not included in the recently published book listing the 101 “most dangerous” college professors in the United States, written by David Horowitz, the one-time left-wing radical turned right-wing firebrand. “I was upset,” Flacks says, an ironic twinkle escaping the prism of his Coke-bottle glasses. “I wasn’t in there. I don’t know why not.”

By Nick Welsh | Thu May 11, 2006 | 12:00pm

Cops Seeking Cops

With Santa Barbara City Hall projecting a balanced budget for the first time in five years, police brass and union leaders showed up at City Council Chambers Monday evening to pressure councilmembers to make up for lost positions and increase officers’ pay by about 10 percent.

Uncategorized By Nick Welsh | Thu May 11, 2006 | 12:00pm

GUNS AND HOSES FOR WOLF

2nd District supervisor candidate Janet Wolf got a major shot in the arm this week, securing the plum endorsements of five public safety unions: city police, county sheriffs, deputy district attorneys, and the county and city fire departments.

By Nick Welsh | Thu May 04, 2006 | 12:00pm

Deputies’ Digits

In the ongoing battle regarding the crucial endorsement of the Deputy Sheriffs Association (DSA), the union revealed that incumbent Sheriff Jim Anderson received just 11 votes more than former sheriff Jim Thomas, 49 more than Sheriff’s Lt. Butch Arnoldi, and 123 more than Lompoc Police Chief Bill Brown.