The fierce campaigning, vicious attack ads, and bitter recounts of 2022 made way for joyous smiles, thunderous applause, and a peaceful changing of the guard at the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors’ first meeting of 2023.
Newly elected supervisors Bruce Gibson, Dawn Ortiz-Legg, and Jimmy Paulding took their oaths of office on Jan. 3 in front of an overflow crowd of supporters and local leaders inside the newly named Katcho Achadjian Government Center.
“It is an honor and pleasure to be sitting here today. It’s been quite a journey to get here,” said Paulding, a first-term 4th District supervisor from Arroyo Grande. “I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”
The trio’s swearings-in—and the jubilant fanfare that accompanied them—marked the dawn of a new era in SLO County politics, as local voters elected the county’s first Democratic supervisor majority in nearly a decade.
It also signaled the end of a five-year run of Republican governance led by 1st District Supervisor John Peschong, former 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton, and 5th District Supervisor Debbie Arnold.
The significance of that was not lost on Jan. 3 meeting attendees. Locals expressed enthusiasm about the new majority coming to power and called for less partisanship in county government.
“I hope this board does not re-partisanize the electoral and governing process the way it’s been re-partisanized by the Republican Party for most of the last eight years, both at this board and nationally,” Atascadero resident Fred Monroe said during public comment. “Let’s do a better job.”
Paulding echoed that in his first-ever comments from the dais. The former Arroyo Grande City Council member said he wanted to “work together, build consensus, and do what’s right for everybody.”
“We have had a little bit of a legacy here of some partisanship, some division, and I want to tackle that head-on and try to bring to this board a fresh perspective,” Paulding said.
While the board majority received effusive cheers from the meeting crowd, the audience reserved its loudest standing ovation for Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano, who was also sworn in on Jan. 3.
Cano oversaw two supervisor elections in June and November that ended in recounts, as her office weathered criticism from losing candidates and their supporters amid a heated political environment.
Gibson—who won his reelection as 2nd District supervisor by a mere 13 votes—commended Cano and her office from the dais, saying that “our democratic processes have held” in the face of “enormous, almost unbelievable pressure.”
“Your team has stood strong, has done its job in an outstanding fashion, and they deserve all our gratitude and respect for that,” he said, garnering applause.
Redistricting emerged as a theme during the Jan. 3 meeting. Public commenters asked that the new board majority reconsider its position on the county’s 2021-adopted supervisorial map—known as the Patten map—which is in the throes of litigation for alleged gerrymandering.
“I’m hopeful that perhaps you can do something to remedy it,” Los Osos resident Vita Miller said. “I really believe with the passage of the Patten map you woke a sleeping giant in this county. I haven’t seen this level of energy, commitment, and action by so many people throughout the county until this election.”
Carl Dudley, who identified as a “small R” Republican from San Luis Obispo, said that the county’s redistricting last year left him without a supervisor and called for the board to bring the community together.
“The recent elections have shown that you have to take both sides of the aisle when you redistrict,” Dudley said. “That apparently was not done, however the people felt it should have been done. I ask all of you to work together and realize that the country, and even this county, is very divided, and let’s get it back to where it belongs.”
This article appears in Jan 5-15, 2023.
When county taxes rise. When leftist ideals become rules. When more regulations stifle your ability to work, play, travel, or live peacefully.
Don’t blame the Republicans. We already tried to tell you.