Laura Capps to Take On Das Williams for County Supervisor

Laura Capps and Das Williams (Photos: Twitter / Santa Barbara County)
By edhat staff
It's official. Laura Capps announced she will run for Santa Barbara County Supervisor challenging incumbent Das Williams.
Rumors began swirling last month that Capps was gearing up to compete for the First District spot but this coming Tuesday at 3:00 p.m., she's planning to make her official announcement in the Rose Garden of Old Mission Santa Barbara, reports Jerry Roberts.
Capps, whose mother and father served in the 24th congressional district, is currently the Vice President of the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education. She has experience working with President Bill Clinton, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Secretary John Kerry’s presidential campaign. Locally she's been involved in numerous boards for non-profits including the Community Environmental Council, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and the Interfaith Initiative of Santa Barbara County.
Last week Das Williams sent out a campaign email asking for support stating this will be his "toughest re-election campaign yet."
Williams took office on January 2, 2017, to represent the First District of Santa Barbara County after previously being elected to the California State Assembly from 2010-2016. Prior to his service in the Assembly, Williams served 7 years on the Santa Barbara City Council from 2003-2010 and also served as a trustee for Peabody Charter School in Santa Barbara.
He's already endorsed by the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara. Capps, a fellow Democrat, reportedly has a strong following which may cause tension with political alliances. Jerry Roberts wrote this matchup will likely "test and strain local political alliances, personal friendships and loyalties within the environmental, education and non-profit communities."
Williams has come under fire after a recent Los Angeles Times article puts him in the center of the marijuana farm boom in Santa Barbara County. The article reports that Williams received campaign contributions from marijuana growers and consorted with marijuana lobbyists. Local residents have voiced their frustration with the rapid increase of marijuana farms where elected officials opened the door for Santa Barbara County to hold 35% of all issued cultivation licenses. As a comparison, Humboldt County has 22% of all issued cultivation licenses.
About a week later, Capps wrote an opinion article published by the Los Angeles Times. "I support the legalization of marijuana for adult use and the establishment of cannabis businesses, but my county has opened the pot floodgates too far," wrote Capps. She went on to state her biggest concern is the proximity of marijuana farms to children. "It’s a particularly egregious problem in Carpinteria, the school district that neighbors mine, where multiple cannabis cultivation operations have been set up nearby — in some cases, almost next door to — two high schools, an elementary school and two youth centers," she wrote.
The election for the Board of Supervisors will take place during the Primary election in March of 2020.
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- July 25, 2019 - Capps Rumored to Challenge Williams for Supervisor
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