Watching the sheriff debate the other night, Lauren and I came to the same conclusion.
Bill Brown was thoughtful, professorial, calm, extremely articulate and knowledgeable. He had the facts at his command and offered insightful and smart responses. His experience advantage was incredibly evident throughout the forum. The office of sheriff is a complex challenge.
Juan Camarena, his challenger, a SWAT team member and ex-Marine was tedious, bureaucratic and, throughout the debate, extremely ill at ease. His “go-to” answer was always “let’s have a community committee on that.” His answers were circular and redundant to the point of “banging our heads at how many times he would repeat the same thing.”
Juan is many levels below in rank, but even more levels below in the kind of human being one wants as a sheriff. Having a public dashboard in a stakeout is an absolutely ludicrous idea.
In essence, we think our District Attorney Joyce Dudley summed it up best:
“Sheriff Bill Brown is the only qualified candidate.”
Kenneth Berris
Santa Barbara
