Doreen Farr Opposing Brooks Firestone

SB Independent/Barney Brantingham

Doreen Running: Doreen Farr, former co-publisher of the Goleta Valley Voice newspaper and former 2nd District representative on the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, says she’s opposing 3rd District incumbent supervisor Brooks Firestone.

Farr, a former Goleta resident and 25-year area resident, now lives in the Santa Ynez Valley following her divorce from Jim Farr, with whom she shared ownership of the Voice.

Farr said she’s filed papers to allow her to raise funds, is gathering endorsements, and plans to start walking the district door-to-door; and it’s a huge area, stretching from the SY Valley over the mountains to Goleta.

“It’s a critical election,” she told me, citing such as issues as planning and the Gaviota Coast. Farr, who served on the Planning Commission after being appointed by then-Supervisor Susan Rose, has been president of the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance, which she described as “dedicated to protecting the rural character” of the Valley. She said she left the commission to do consultant work for the city of Goleta.

Dr. David Bearman says he also plans to challenge Firestone in the June, 2008 election. If no one receives over 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates will face off in the November general election.

Firestone faces a tough fight because of the number of residents unhappy with his positions on development and other issues.

Supervisor Bearman?

SB Independent/Barney Brantingham:

Supervisor Bearman?: Dr. Bearman, by the way, says he’s thinking of running for the 3rd District county supervisorial seat now held by Brooks Firestone of the Santa Ynez Valley. Other names are being mentioned in Goleta to oppose Firestone, who gives every impression of seeking re-election next year. This will be a hot one.

[Hmm, wonder who else is thinking of opposing Brooks Firestone next year. –Goleta Observer]

McCaw Buys Near Bacara... Craig McCaw that is...

SB Independent / Barney Brantingham are reporting that the former husband of News-Press owner Wendy McCaw has purchased 60 acres of coastal land next to the Bacara for $20 million.

On The Beat With Barney: Goleta $$$

Excerpt from Barney Brantingham's column this week at The Independent:

Goleta $$$: Although Goleta may have elected the best City Council that developer money can buy, Roger Aceves says it’s wrong to lump him in with the big money boys. Roger says he raised only $27,000 or so and didn’t run as part of a slate with Michael Bennett and Eric Onnen, who were backed by major developer donations.

Click here for Barney's complete column at The Independent.

On The Beat With Barney - 'Good Gov't $$$' and the Goleta City Council

Barney Brantingham's On The Beat column at the Independent is covering Good Gov't $$$ this week. Here is the excerpt:

Good Gov’t $$$: In this era of corruption, it is indeed heartening to find evidence of business investing in good government. If not for their passion for civic betterment, why else would developer Mike Towbes and the Keston family donate dollars to Goleta City Council candidates? Towbes, wife Anne Smith, and Towbes’s VP Craig Zimmerman and his wife Amy Zimmerman kicked in a total of $11,400 to Michael Bennett, Eric Onnen, and Roger Aceves, who ended up ousting the slow-growth incumbents. Bennett, Onnen, and Aceves also received $16,646 from Michael Keston, who, according to Independent reporter Martha Sadler, has been trying to develop the sprawling Bishop Ranch for years. In all, the three challengers got $120,000 from developers with both projects and lawsuits pending before the City Council. Much of this came in the last two weeks of the campaign in the form of donations between $900 and $999, just under the $1,000 reporting requirement and allowing the donations to be hidden until — guess when? — after election day. But heck, it’s all in the interest of good government.

For Barney's Complete Column, Click Here.

Who will be the first on the Goleta City Council to come forward with a full list of the campaign donations they received, including the donations under the $1,000 reporting requirement? Shouldn't there be a full-disclosure law about this?