Who’s running for SLO County District 2 supervisor? Meet candidates in online forum
The Cambria Chamber of Commerce will host an April 13 Zoom candidates forum for the four men vying against one another in the June primary election, each hoping to represent San Luis Obispo County’s realigned supervisorial District 2.
Two of the candidates are from Atascadero, one from Templeton and the fourth is longtime District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson of Cayucos.
Geoffrey Auslen and John Whitworth own small businesses in Atascadero. Bruce Jones, from Templeton, is a retired orthopedic surgeon.
To register for the event, which will run from 6 to 8 p.m., go to bit.ly/3xahVeJ.
The League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County will work with the Cambria chamber to collect questions in advance, compile them and then quiz the four candidates.
Questions should be emailed to the chamber by noon April 11 at info@cambriachamber.org.
According to Shelley Higginbotham, chairwoman of the league’s forum committee, said Friday that plans didn’t gel to have the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce participate in the event that she’ll moderate. That chamber is in the process of setting up its own, separate forum, according to a spokesperson who said it’s to be an in-person/live event to be held April 28 in the Atascadero High School gym. The time was not yet finalized, as of Monday morning, April 4.
“The role of the league is to provide the moderator and timer. We’ll do the tech work for the meeting and sort through the questions,” she said. Other members of her committee are Marilee Hyman, Vallerie Stenson and Ed Cabera.
HiggInbotham said she was quite impressed by the first few questions submitted by the time she was interviewed Friday, April 1. They indicated deep community interest in a wide variety of issues impacting District 2 and the county.
They included: Whether tourism and hospitality industries were the most important economic drivers for the county; how to control tourism with respect to environmental protection; how to expand sustainable infrastructure for power supplies in the county; what each candidate would do to provide adequate mental health services; and, if elected, would the winner represent only District 2 or the entire county.
Redistricting knocked Woody out of the race
Engineer Michael Woody was originally among those hoping to sit in that supervisorial seat.
However, Lorienne Schwenk, the Cambria chamber’s executive director, said Woody told her March 30 that he did explore the possibility of “running for District 2 last year, but all of that changed after the Board of Supervisors redrew all of the supervisor districts. I live in Morro Bay, and my new district will be the new District 3 that is not up for election until 2024.”
More about the candidates
Gibson and Auslen have lived in the new district area for decades and have longtime ties to the county. Jones moved to Templeton after he retired from his medical practice in 2017.
Gibson, who’s the current chairman of the Board of Supervisors, told The Tribune in August that he was running for his fifth term in the seat he’s held since 2006 almost entirely to combat a Board of Supervisors majority he believes is “(undermining) local democracy and our democratic values.”
Jones launched his campaign during a Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County meeting in Atascadero on Jan. 17. That group has endorsed him. Since retiring from his 35-year medical practice in Missouri and moving to Templeton four years ago, he’s been active in the Templeton Area Advisory Group for three years.
Auslen said in a Jan. 27 phone interview that he’d been planning to run in 2024 for the District 5 seat, but that the redistricting prompted him to modify his plans. The owner of three Atascadero businesses, among them Glenn’s Repair & Rental, led the development of a playground where physically handicapped and able-bodied children can play side by side.
Whitworth is a retired Marine Corps full bird colonel, medevac helicopter pilot and instructor from Atascadero. Among his former occupations are educator and contractor who remodeled homes. His current business, Corps Classics, manufactures textiles to sell to military branches and agencies.
For additional details on three of the candidates, go to an earlier report at www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article258024803.html.
For information on each of them, go to their individual websites or Facebook pages, such as www.johnfordistrict2.com/index.php/meet-john-whitworth/, https://brucegibsonforsupervisor.org/, www.auslenforsupervisor.org/ and www.jonesforsupervisor.com.
This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
