Not to kick a gal while she’s down, but the election fraud trial of Gaea Powell is a masterclass in why no one should ever try to defend themselves over having a lawyer appointed to them.
I’m starting to wonder if this resident of rural Arroyo Grande whose confidence in her own greatness started to waver last week has ever watched a courtroom drama. Are there any Law & Order binge nights in her background?
Objection! Badgering the witness.
Objection! The line of questioning is irrelevant.
Objection! Speculation.
Objection! Objection! Objection!
That’s what her cross-examination of witnesses was like on Sept. 8. Rough stuff.
She got in trouble for testifying while she was questioning witnesses, for introducing information during the court hearing that everyone agreed wouldn’t be allowed, for speculating. The list goes on and on.
The judge had to ask the jury to leave the room so he could admonish Powell before bringing everyone back in!
The doctor she claimed to be renting a room from when she ran for Arroyo Grande mayor testified that Powell wasn’t renting a room, she never lived there, she never moved in, she never cooked meals for herself there. What he did say was that Powell would use his condo when she was doing work for him: editing his book—which she subsequently sued him over.
I bet he regrets the day he decided she was A-OK to do business with.
“You’re using a word that’s inappropriate,” Dr. David Marquis said in response to Powell’s questions. “‘Rental.’”
During a separate line of questioning, Powell asked Marquis this: “You were aware that I was going to be reluctantly running for mayor in 2022?”
Objection! Speculation. Sustained.
“Reluctantly,” huh? She’s indicating that she was forced to run for mayor, forced to change her address to his James Way address, register to vote there, and run for mayor twice even though it sure sounds like she wasn’t living in Arroyo Grande. Tough, huh? No one appreciates her sacrifice.
The big allegation that landed her in this whole mess of a trial in the first place? Powell registered to run for mayor using an address within city limits while she was continuing to live in an unincorporated area.
It’s not looking good for her. Her goose seems cooked.
San Luis Ambulance’s goose is being licked by flames fanned by what many cities see as poor response times and a lack of transparency. Past efforts to get the provider to make improvements were unsuccessful, according to Paso Robles City Manager Chris Huot.
So now San Luis Ambulance is fighting to keep its job—to provide emergency medical response services to all of SLO County—and cities are proposing a new way of doing things with something called the Alliance. Sounds a little mafioso.
Paso put forward a proposal that Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, and Atascadero are in support of that would create a “private-public partnership” and contract with AMR (American Medical Response) to provide those services. San Luis Ambulance sent its advocates out to the four corners of the county on Sept. 8 to object!
“Will this proposal actually improve emergency medical services in Arroyo Grande? Will it put more ambulances on the street? Will it improve response times? Will it improve patient care, and will it be a better value for the community?” San Luis Ambulance Operations Manager Kris Strommen said at the Arroyo Grande City Council meeting.
If you ask cities, fire departments, and community members in Santa Barbara County, they would testify that no, contracting with AMR won’t change any of the current issues that San Luis Ambulance is struggling to fix. Our neighbor to the south and its county Fire Department mounted a concerted effort to overthrow AMR as its main emergency medical response provider two years ago—and it didn’t work.
What were the problems? Similar to this county’s.
Poor response times. Ambulances located too far away. A lack of transparency. Allegations of corporate greed over public safety. The main issue may not be the companies themselves but poor oversight from the government(s) responsible for the service contracts in the first place.
It’s complacency and a lack of accountability.
Both ambulance companies have served their respective counties for decades without a truly competitive bidding process that seriously looks at what needs to change and how those changes are going to be addressed. As Atascadero Mayor Charles Bourbeau put it: “To have a contract out for 80 years without rebidding it, that does not sit well with me,” he said at the Sept. 8 meeting. “It’s wise to go to the next step and see how things shake out from there.”
The system needs a shakedown, baby! And competition breeds better outcomes—or whatever “they” say in a capitalist society.
San Luis Ambulance does seem shaken. Its leadership begged city leaders to be pragmatic and stick with the local company it knows. The devil you know, right?
Huot thinks the county’s request for proposals process will yield updated performance standards and service requirements, no matter what.
“Regardless of the provider ultimately selected, the RFP presents an important opportunity to move beyond a decades-old service model and establish a more modern, responsive, transparent, and accountable countywide ambulance system,” Huot said.
One where the service provider is accountable to the public it’s contracted to keep safe. ∆
The Shredder is always on the wah-mbulance. Send tissues to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Student Guide 2026.
Shredder nailed it on Powell. She’s living in an alternative universe.
Concur!
I read the article about the ambulance service and then went back and watched the recent City Council meetings. I don’t claim to be an expert on providing ambulance service, but I do possess Google, common sense, and a reasonably functioning calculator. Here’s what I’ve figured out.
Going 80 years providing an essential public service without ever going through a competitive bidding process is pretty remarkable. I don’t care that much of the cost is paid by users and insurance companies. I do care that an emergency service can operate for eight decades with what appears to be all the competitive pressure of a small-town mafia monopoly. Competition and accountability aren’t exactly radical concepts.
Then there’s personal experience. Family friends recently waited hours for an ambulance to become available to transport a loved one to a specialized facility in Southern California. The problem wasn’t finding a hospital bed down south. The problem was finding an ambulance here. San Luis Ambulance uses ambulances from the local 9-1-1 system for these long-distance transports. While one is headed down Highway 101 for several hours, it obviously isn’t available here for the rest of us. Apparently ambulances, unlike Star Trek transporters, cannot be in two places at once.
San Luis Ambulance has also raised concerns about the competing model relying on federal funding. Sounds ominous. There’s just one small detail that somehow fell out of the saddle: private ambulance companies receive federal funding too. I asked Google. Ding, ding, ding!
It’s called the Quality Assurance Fee, or QAF, program. So criticizing the other model for relying on government reimbursement while benefiting from government reimbursement yourself feels a little like complaining about your neighbor’s sprinkler while standing there holding a garden hose. Maybe not the strongest argument.
Then we heard employees understandably worried about losing their jobs if another company wins the contract. Back to Google I went. California Health and Safety Code Section 1797.230 provides a process related to workforce retention when ambulance providers change. The County hasn’t released the final bid package yet, so we don’t know what it will require, but I would be surprised if protecting the existing workforce isn’t part of the conversation.
Which brings me to what I really don’t understand: all the theatrics.
San Luis Ambulance has been serving this county for 80 years. Eighty years! If the company provides the best service, has the best plan, and can meet the County’s new expectations, then submit a great proposal and win the contract. That’s generally how competitive bidding works.
Instead of spending so much energy poking holes in the other guy’s wagon, maybe spend a little more time making sure your own wheels are tight.
And here’s the other curious part: there may be multiple ambulance companies competing for this contract. So perhaps save some ammunition. It could be a crowded rodeo.
After 80 years without meaningful competition, asking San Luis Ambulance to compete for the privilege of continuing to serve SLO County doesn’t seem unreasonable.
In fact, it seems about 80 years overdue.
Dilbert Monroe’s diligent research covered pretty much everything that the County should have in their next Ambulance Company / County bidding contract, for the next Ambulance Company that wins the contract for ambulance services. Along with pointing out some good ideas on how to best structure the ambulance services, for the best service and best outcomes.
80 years without any bidding process seems like too long with without much analysis on keep our County and City Ambulance services up to date. Hopefully that will change for the better.
Gaea Powell lives in the maga alternative world, thinking everyone is out to get her.
This seems like another rerun of this ongoing show. Trump is her “reality tv victim” mentor.
She projects the corruption and crimes she is accused of onto those who work in the legal system, and in the elections office.
Gaea seems to be her own worst enemy. It is as if she is living in the rabbit holes and alternative land of opposites, projection and funhouse mirrors, along with as many of those never ending conspiracy theories, where she gets her “information.”
Fun watching Ms.Powell self destruct.