Where do SLO County District 2 supervisor candidates stand on oil, water and redistricting?
Although the tone was courteous and respectful during the first candidates’ forum for San Luis Obispo County District 2 supervisor, the aim of three conservative candidates in the race was clear.
Each of those candidates — Geoff Auslen, Bruce Jones and John Whitworth — wants to defeat long-serving, liberal Supervisor Bruce Gibson in the June election.
If one of them wins, that victory would bolster an already staunch right-leaning majority on the powerful Board of Supervisors that controls San Luis Obispo County government.
District 1 Supervisor John Peschong, District 4 Supervisor Lynn Compton and District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold often band together to vote against the more liberal stances of Gibson and District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg.
So far, the board’s conservative majority has prevailed in such impactful decisions as redrawing the supervisorial district boundaries, and determining how the board should replace Tommy Gong as county clerk-recorder.
They’ve also weighed in on homelessness, environmental issues and Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
In the April 13 forum, Gibson faced off virtually against Auslen and Whitworth, who both live in Atascadero, and Jones, who is based in Templeton. Whitworth called in to the Zoom meeting, while the other three appeared on screen during the nearly two-hour question-and-answer session.
Gibson, the current chairman of the Board of Supervisors, lives in Cayucos.
Gibson says he’s running for his fifth term in the seat he’s held since 2006 almost entirely to combat a board majority he believes is undermining “local democracy and our democratic values.”
While some of his opponents “seem to be arguing against experience,” Gibson said in the introduction to the online forum, he feels his years on the board “and the set of relationships (he’s developed) will be key to getting the job done.”
Whitworth and Auslen both own small businesses in Atascadero. Jones is a retired orthopedic surgeon.
Whitworth is an Atascadero resident who defined himself in the forum as a “commonsense, constitutional conservative,” a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and Medevac helicopter pilot who rescued from danger “a nine-man platoon that was surrounded by enemy forces.”
He’s worked as an educator and a contractor who remodeled homes. His current business, Corps Classics, manufactures textiles to sell to military agencies.
Auslen owns three Atascadero businesses, among them Glenn’s Repair & Rental. He grew up on the Central Coast, has “27 years of success in San Luis Obispo County with business” and led the development of a playground where physically handicapped and able-bodied children can play side by side, he said.
Jones retired from his 35-year medical practice in Missouri and moved to Templeton four years ago. He’s been active in the Templeton Area Advisory Group for three years, has chaired the group for two years, and was quick to emphasize that he’s the only District 2 supervisor candidate endorsed by the official state and county Republican party organizations.
SLO County Board of Supervisors forum
During the forum, the three conservative board candidates repeatedly said that Gibson’s decade-and-a-half on the job was enough, and they feel it’s time for a change.
However, Gibson’s opponents offered few specific mentions of what Gibson had done wrong during those years or what they would have done had they been serving on the board then.
Despite that, strong differences came to light during the event, which was sponsored by the Cambria Chamber of Commerce and moderated by the League of Women Voters of San Luis Obispo County.
In most cases, two or three of the conservatives agreed in concept with each other about various issues on which they differed with Gibson, such as the creation of an independent commission to oversee redistricting in 2020 and beyond, and building a wind energy project in the waters off the coast of Morro Bay.
Jones and Auslen oppose the designation of the Chumash National Marine Sanctuary, while Whitworth said he needs to learn more about the sanctuary proposal.
All three opponents favor the idea of making San Luis Obispo County a charter county.
Gibson said it could work “if redistricting is fair,” adding that it “depends on the exact nature of the proposal. The one the current board majority is putting forward has some serious flaws .... (and ) is an effort to lock in the board majority through redistricting.”
Ideas floated by the conservative candidates on dealing with climate change and drought included their desire to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open. They also want to develop desalinization plants, store water in reservoirs, and keep 100% of the county’s Lake Nacimiento allocation without shipping it out of the county.
“It’s not all about agriculture in grapes grabbing all the water,” Auslen said. “We have more hotels, more swimming pools (now).”
Gibson said “we need to get serious with our efforts under the Sustainable Water Act” in dealing with groundwater basin and other issues, and not just rely on “a meter program to track water use.”
On wind farms, Gibson favors the offshore wind energy proposal, while Jones does not, Auslen said he might support it if the farm was “far enough off the coast so it doesn’t affect the view of any of our readers,” and Whitworth said he favors any kind of alternate energy, but he’s concerned about “the disposal of the highly toxic batteries” that are part of the project proposed for the waters off Cambria and Morro Bay.
Gibson, Auslen and Jones oppose offshore drilling, but the latter two say that onshore drilling would be OK it was done in a remote area of the county.
“I think we need to go and get the oil that’s there, but do it safely,” Whitworth said. “If it’s done properly, with safety measure, we go forward.”
All four candidates concurred that it’s crucial for the board to develop and implement creative solutions to help unhoused people and those with mental health and addiction issues, and find ways to increase the county’s stock of affordable housing
They also agreed that tourism is crucial for San Luis Obispo County’s economy.
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 12:13 PM.
