Don’t Forget Marshall’s Mess at the Polls

Don’t Forget Marshall’s Mess at the Polls Justin Ruhge Tuesday February 10, 2004 Daily Nexus > Opinion > Volume 83, Issue Number 77 Remember, the county split is happening because the South County Supervisors Susan Rose, Gail Marshall, and Naomi Schwartz – the “Three Blind Mice” – refuse to listen to any of the requests, advice, or desires offered by the north county residents. It didn’t happen overnight, but as a result of years of endless frustration with South County policies which say “Listen to what we want to do and not what you want to do.” There has been plenty of dialogue, but only one-way action on the part of the Three Blind Mice. They are locked into the South County left wing’s socialist agenda spread by the Environmental Defense Center, the League of Women Voters, the Citizens’ Planning Association, and the Women’s Democratic Caucus. They are all anti-business and threatening to private property rights. People in North County who are not usually political have been forced into political action – for example, through the push for a county split. Getting along has to work both ways to work at all. Issues as important as those driving the split cannot be deterred by superficial issues such as the origin of county wine products . People often claim to have products from Santa Barbara when they are actually from Goleta or Lompoc or elsewhere. Point of origin of wine products is a specious argument against the much more important issue of a county split. The people who are opposing the split are behind the assault on private property rights, North County self-determination, and pro-business practices. The recent comments by John Buttny, who has served as Marshall’s assistant for eight years and is often referred to as “the power behind the throne,” are not surprising. He is not attempting to continue his assault on freedom by running for the 3rd District Supervisor seat vacated by Marshall, who was the subject of a recall election due to her stand on the same issues that have brought on the county split. The 1,000 block votes from the UCSB students saved her from recall. The South County anti-split sympathizers are not here to help the interest of the North County but to promote the South County “take over” agenda, which encourages housing shortages, traffic jams, and closing businesses. They want to export the South County brand of chaos to the North County. To them, we should live on tourism and welfare and the government should control everything. The North County supports free enterprise, private property and planned development of housing and roads to deal with the obvious growth in the county. The agents of the Three Blind Mice do not want you to know the real issues. Justin Ruhge is a Lompoc resident. :nav Source: http://www.ucsbdailynexus.com/opinion/2004/6657.html