SLO County GOP wants Supervisor Hill stripped of board chairmanship. What a cheap shot

The San Luis Obispo County Republican Party is angling to get Supervisor Adam Hill kicked out of the chairman’s seat.

It has issued an “action alert,” urging party members to ask the other four supervisors to appoint Supervisor Lynn Compton as chair in place of Hill.

That’s a completely unnecessary move, given that Compton already is serving as chair on an interim basis.

Hill, who was narrowly reelected to the board in March, has been absent from office since March 11, when he attempted suicide following an FBI search that included Hill’s office and possibly his house.

The FBI has not released any information about the investigation, and Hill hasn’t commented much, other than to release a statement in which he says he is “cooperating fully.”

Meanwhile, local Republicans are going on talk radio and circulating emails in an effort to oust Hill from the chairmanship.

Some might call this a cynical attempt to further punish a man who is recuperating from a suicide attempt.

But here’s the local GOP’s rationale: “The county is facing severe financial challenges and we need competent leaders in charge.”

There are a couple of odd things about that statement.

First, there’s absolutely no mention of the more immediate public health threat: the coronavirus pandemic.

Nope. It’s only the “severe financial challenges” that’s got the GOP worried. Not the loss of local lives.

Also, the statement implies there is currently a lack of “competent leaders.” So not true.

The county is fortunate to have extremely competent leaders at the helm right now.Supervisor Compton is more than capable of handling the duties of chair. As the vice chair, that’s her job, and she’s performing it well.

County Administrative Officer Wade Horton, who’s serving as emergency services director, and Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein have also done an admirable job in leading us through this difficult and uncertain time.

So yes, we have competent leadership already.

Also, there’s no county ordinance or rule that limits the number of times a supervisor or board chair may be absent, and in fact, other supervisors have been absent for extended periods due to illness.

Aside from calling further attention to Hill’s current predicament, including his mental illness, this request from the GOP serves no purpose.

It should be disregarded by the Board of Supervisors for what it is: political grandstanding.

And no, we aren’t saying this because we are Hill apologists.

As we’ve said several times before, we have major concerns about Adam Hill.

His history of verbal and written attacks on those who disagree with him or even just question him is way of line. That’s one of the reasons we chose not to endorse him for reelection.

The FBI investigation is another red flag, but we aren’t going to speculate on what that means or on what the future holds for Supervisor Hill.

For now, here’s what we do know: Adam Hill was elected by a majority of voters in District 3, and that choice must be respected.

The narrow margin of victory is completely irrelevant; it doesn’t matter if Hill won by 2 votes or 2,000.

Nor should the nature of Hill’s illness make a difference.

The fact that he suffers from depression does not make him unfit for office — or for the chairmanship of the county Board of Supervisors.

Republicans should have the decency to let Adam Hill return to office and demonstrate whether or not he’s up to the job before trying to stage their coup.