On May 31, 2019, Santa Barbara County issued a letter entitled: “Letter to Residents Regarding Cannabis.” I was struck by the similarity of the attitude and tone of this letter to Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech. Both Mr. Carter and Mr. Williams, and his like-minded cronies on the county Board of Supervisors, told the voters in an arrogant and condescending tone that county government knows what is good for them better than they do.
Mr. Williams and his fellow supervisors went on to try to whitewash their cannabis decisions with nonsense that has nothing to do with the real reasons they approved regulations favorable to the cannabis industry in Santa Barbara County, which are not in the best interests of the residents.
Mr. Williams and his cronies voted in their own self interests as political payback to certain supporters, and to get their hands on the tax windfall from cannabis. They are salivating at the opportunity to spend more money on more government and patronage jobs that will support tax-and-spend professional politicians like themselves.
Mr. Williams and company must be feeling the pushback from voters for them to issue their “malaise” letter. Hopefully this letter will dog them like Mr. Carter’s dogged him. The voters know they want tighter regulation of cannabis. Keep up the pressure, and vote self-interested professional politicians like Das Williams and his supervisor cronies out of office.
