The SLO County GOP calls him ‘Debbie Arnold without the skirt.’ That’s not who we need

Supervisor Debbie Arnold is not a mean-spirited person — quite the opposite — but her ultra-right views and her efforts to undermine free and fair elections aren’t just harmful to San Luis Obispo County, they also are dangerous to our democracy.

The last person we need on the board right now is a Debbie Arnold clone, yet that’s who the local Republican Party is offering — and the head of the local GOP is proud to acknowledge it.

“He’s going to be Debbie Arnold without the skirt,” Party Chairman Randall Jordan bragged on Dave Congalton’s KVEC talk radio show.

That candidate is Dr. Bruce Jones, who is hoping to unseat Supervisor Bruce Gibson in the redrawn District 2, which, through the magic of partisan gerrymandering, has been transformed from a liberal district to a more conservative one where Republicans outnumber Democrats by 1,400 registered voters.

This election will determine whether Republicans will retain control of the Board of Supervisors for the next two years, and for that reason, it’s been closely scrutinized throughout the county.

It’s also attracting considerable money, with many donations pouring in from outside District 2. This calendar year alone, Gibson has pulled in more than $400,000 in cash donations, according to the most recent financial statements. Jones has collected around $270,000 in cash, including a $50,000 loan he made to his own campaign.

Debbie Arnold redux?

If ideologically speaking, Jones is indeed “Debbie Arnold without the skirt” — and it’s hard for us to judge because he refuses to talk to The Tribune Editorial Board — his election would give far-right MAGA Republicans even more of a voice on the Board of Supervisors.

Of the three conservative supervisors, Arnold has been the most strident in pushing conspiracy theories and pandering to her far-right base; she alone, for example, once seriously suggested the county consider hand-counting all ballots.

That’s a page out of the MAGA playbook, which the local Republican Party leadership is following these days.

It’s a party leadership that’s fallen off the rails and is growing increasingly estranged from the more moderate values held by the vast majority of San Luis Obispo County residents.

Gone is the GOP that sought out Republican candidates capable of crossing the aisle — politicians like Jordan Cunningham, Sam Blakeslee, Katcho Achadjian and Frank Mecham, all of whom The Tribune was proud to support.

The ‘failed’ plan to end homelessness

The Jones camp has been hard at work demonizing Gibson as the “bad” Bruce while promoting Jones as an “honest Republican.”

Yet the statements coming out of the Jones campaign say otherwise, filled as they are with half-truths and lies of omission.

Here’s one especially egregious whopper: Jones claims Gibson was a “principal author” of the “failed” 10-year plan to end homelessness that was adopted in 2008. Actually, the plan is attributed to a 60-member leadership group that included numerous elected officials, government employees and nonprofit agencies. Gibson is listed only as an alternate.

By the way, SLO County wasn’t alone in producing such a document; counties throughout California were preparing similar 10-year plans to end homelessness for a highly practical reason: It was a hoop they had to jump through to qualify for funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Officials openly acknowledged there was little likelihood the goal would be met, yet everyone seemed to agree the plan was a necessary step. The SLO County Board of Supervisors at that time — which had a Republican majority — unanimously voted to pay a consultant $67,233 to prepare the plan.

Another thing: Who’s to say that plan was a total failure worthy only of ridicule?

Some of the proposed policies in the 10-year plan are right in line with what the Republican Party supports. One even suggests “allowing more units per lot, waiving parking standards, school district fees, and other requirements that burden an affordable housing development for homeless people.”

If that was never fully implemented, it’s not the fault of the plan. It’s due to a lack of political will.

Who’s to blame for the county’s most intractable problems?

If he’s elected, Jones says the first project he’ll tackle will be streamlining the county planning process.

“It needs to be better and cheaper and faster,” he said at the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce forum. “I know that land use applications do not have to take as long as they take here in our county.”

And how, exactly, does he plan to do that?

What would he do that members of the current conservative board majority — who have far more experience in public service — have been unable to accomplish?

Is Jones implying that they failed in their duty?

If so, we agree.

We’ve seen little to no progress on some of the most critical issues affecting the county.

Housing is more unaffordable than ever.

Water supply remains an issue — particularly in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin.

Only now is the county finally getting serious about ramping up homeless services.

There are still far too many roads with potholes — even though the board majority made road repair a priority.

The County Clerk-Recorder’s Office in the North County was shut down and never reopened.

Too many communities are “under-parked” — partly because there isn’t enough funding to maintain more recreational facilities.

And a long-promised sheriff’s substation in Nipomo has yet to materialize.

People living on the coast don’t want to look at windmills, Jones says

Don’t expect Jones to come to the rescue and put things back on track; at best he will simply replace Lynn Compton in supporting the same failed policies that have left the county in weak shape in many areas.

In some ways, he could even out-MAGA the current board majority.

Take his position on climate action, which many county residents view as the most critical issue of all.

Jones is all in favor of keeping Diablo Canyon open — he criticizes Gibson for not joining the other supervisors in urging Gov. Newsom to extend the life of the nuclear plant — yet Jones is not in favor of offshore wind turbines. He would prefer locating windmills on land.

“I do believe that most of the people living on the coast don’t want to look out and see windmills,” he said at the candidates’ forum.

So a nuclear power plant is fine, but heaven forbid that folks on the coast might catch a glimpse of windmills way out in the distance?

Who’s the right Bruce?

Bruce Gibson is not the “bad” Bruce. You may not agree with all of his positions, but he is not the flaming radical his opponent makes him out to be.

He’s proven himself to be a smart and capable leader. He has a long history of bringing projects to fruition: The Los Osos sewer. Branch libraries in Cambria and Cayucos. Restoration of the Cayucos Pier. And now the repair of the Cayucos Veterans Hall is in the works.

In other words, Gibson has been highly responsive to his constituents on the North Coast and will do the same for the residents of the new District 2.

He could have accomplished far more for the entire county had he not been stymied by the board majority. For instance, in 2017 he proposed allocating $5 million to affordable housing nonprofits. It was a big ask, but the board could have compromised and allocated some amount. It didn’t.

With 16 years on the Board of Supervisors, plus service on various regional and statewide commissions, he is vastly more experienced than Jones, who moved here from Missouri approximately four years ago. He tries to convince voters that serving three years on the Templeton Area Advisory Group has given him all the knowledge of the county that he needs to be “an effective supervisor from Day 1.”

Judging by the number of misstatements he’s made in his campaign, it hasn’t.

You’ve probably heard the one about paper ballots, but Jones also seems to have no clue as to what SLOCOG does, or that vacation rental ordinances have indeed been tailored to individual communities or that county supervisors have no power to raise taxes.

As for Gibson, some argue that 16 years in office is enough, but he remains the best choice until someone more suitable comes along,

Bruce Jones is not that person. He is ill-informed on many issues, relies almost exclusively on the same tired talking points and will carry on the ugly and depressing partisan battle that’s been raging too long in San Luis Obispo County.

The Tribune strongly endorses Bruce Gibson for San Luis Obispo County District 2 supervisor.