Supervisor candidate is passionate about county

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

In his 11 years of residence in Santa Barbara County, third district supervisor candidate Dave Smyser has been a county planning commissioner, mayor and chief of staff for current supervisor Brooks Firestone.
It is a tale of a meteoric rise through a web of political hierarchy, much of which has been spurred by Smyser’s friendship with Firestone. When asked in 2004 by Firestone to help run his campaign, Smyser obliged. When the supervisor asked Smyser to be his chief of staff, he took the post, and when Firestone asked if he’d be the third district planning commissioner, Smyser agreed.


So it’s no surprise that Smyser’s run for the third district supervisor seat comes at the behest of Firestone.
“He asked me to run,” Smyser told the Daily Sound during a recent interview at the Santa Barbara Elks Lodge in Goleta, where he makes dinner for several hundred senior citizens each week.
But that pattern doesn’t mean Smyser isn’t passionate on his own about issues facing the diverse third district.
When he arrived in the county just over a decade ago, he did so with three young children, two of whom are now in college. The third, a daughter, is a captain in the U.S. Army and is in the midst of her second tour in Iraq.
When his children return to the Santa Ynez Valley, Smyser said he wants them to come home to a place that holds the same appeal as it did when he first saw the area: mainly a thriving agriculture industry that is able to stave off development.
But in order to maintain the valley’s bucolic feel, Smyser said it’s important to ensure farming remains a viable industry.
To do that, he said the county needs to allow farmers the leeway to build new barns, drying facilities and other structures when necessary – something he says is frowned upon by many of his opponents.
In the case of drying facilities, which are used to dry out produce, Smyser said forcing farmers to truck the produce a hundred miles away at $5 per gallon is the equivalent of, “telling them you don’t want them to do business in our county anymore.”
“The reality is it’s tough to do business in agriculture,” he said. “We can’t put on more pressure otherwise agriculture land will disappear.”
Smyser said policies like these have, “unintended consequences.” As mayor of Solvang, he said the City Council passed an ordinance restricting the weight of vehicles on rural roads. As a result, farmers had difficulty hauling hay, livestock and other agricultural products across town without being ticketed, he said.
In Smyser’s opinion, the issue of protecting agricultural land goes hand-in-hand with preserving the Gaviota Coast, much of which is farmed.
“[Gaviota] is a gem not only for Santa Barbara but for the entire state,” Smyser said, adding that many farmers along the scenic stretch of coast have endorsed his campaign. “They believe I’m going to protect them from homes and other kinds of development that would ruin their livelihood,” he said.
Smyser’s talk about preservation threads smoothly into his beliefs that the county needs to find new sources of revenue to help balance the budget. In 2008-2009, the board is expected to make more than $26 million in cuts.
This is where he says his experience as mayor of Solvang will come in handy. During his first day as mayor, Smyser said he received a letter from the governor that said the city’s budget would be chopped by one-third.
By the time the fiscal crisis was over, Smyser said the city was better off than it was when he took over. He said the key to weathering that storm, was bolstering tourism.
Smyser did this by allowing timeshares to move into town, which contributed heavily to the city’s bed tax revenues and filled stores and restaurants.
Tourism is already a major industry throughout the county, but in order to rebound financially, Smyser said it has to grow because it’s unlikely property taxes will.
One of the ways Smyser intends to do this is to encourage construction of a business park near Vandenberg Air Force Base. He said hi-tech firms have been calling for a convention center and other amenities in that area for years, and it’s about time to bring it to them.
“They’ve been crying for a small convention center,” he said. “There’s nothing really up there.”
It is tourism that Smyser said helps prevent farm land from being plowed over and mansions built on the Gaviota Coast. He said when tourists visit Santa Barbara County they often do so to appreciate the rolling hills of the Santa Ynez Valley or the coastline, both of which many locals hope remain unspoiled.
“It’s eco-friendly tourism,” he said.
Smyser said he does not support efforts by the board to increase fees and dock the pay of some county administrators.
“I’m the only one who talks about how to develop the revenue side, while the opponents talk about increasing fees and sacking the CEO,” he said. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”
The county’s often tenuous planning process is another thing Smyser hopes to fix. He said there’s no excuse for projects to languish for decades before being approved or denied.
For Goleta, Smyser said he not only would be open to renegotiating the city’s revenue neutrality agreement, he would encourage it. The agreement was a condition set forth by the county and city incorporated in 2001. It requires the city to fork over 50 percent of its sales tax to the county each year in perpetuity.
“It is the worst plan in the state of California,” Smyser said.
When asked if he felt he could be a voice of reason, or a bridge as some say between the often toxic politics that separate North and South County, Smyser cited his professional experience as an attorney and mediator. He also said during his tenure as planning commissioner, he worked with all of the current supervisors and acted as a “mediator between the sides.”
“If you were to ask those people if they can work with me I’m sure they’d say yes,” he said.
During Firestone’s tenure, many say the winery owner aligned himself with the North County supervisors and failed to build a bridge between the two sides. While this is up for debate, one example of how split the two sides are is spelled out in recent political endorsements.
North County supervisor’s Joni Gray, who is also up for reelection, and Joe Centeno, endorsed Smyser – Firestone’s handpicked successor. South County supervisor’s Salud Carbajal, who is running for reelection unchallenged, and Janet Wolf, have endorsed Doreen Farr.
In the end, Smyser said the paramount issue for county government at the moment is the economy, and in order for that to improve, one thing has to happen, which he hopes works as a catalyst for all of the other issues.
“We’ve got to work smarter,” he said.
Smyser and the four other candidates running for third district supervisor will be on the state’s primary election ballot on June 3.