Supervisor Debbie Arnold’s votes make her vulnerable

As odds narrow between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, there’s a real chance California’s June primary could finally matter, hugely. If that happens, voter turnout will be off the chart, and Supervisor Debbie Arnold’s seemingly safe seat could be up for grabs.

Arnold is amazingly vulnerable. Her Las Pilitas quarry vote blatantly ignored the interests of her Santa Margarita area constituents. She’s offered no plan for solving the groundwater crisis while squashing every proposed solution. Worse, she’s become a radical right-wing ideologue, completely in COLAB’s thrall.

Her opponent, North County organic farmer Eric Michielssen, has the credentials and skills to take her out. He has building, banking, real estate and public administration experience. He’s intelligent, well-spoken and gregarious.

Also, he’s naturally likable. But that’s his Achilles’ heel.

Because he likes being liked, Michielssen hesitates to offend. If he begins hammering Arnold with all the facts of her manifest incompetence, he fears it’ll sound off-putting, too negative.

When Michielssen gets past his inborn nice guy-ness and begins cataloging Arnold’s terrible record every time he speaks publicly, the District 5 seat could easily change hands in June.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 9:38 AM with the headline "Supervisor Debbie Arnold’s votes make her vulnerable."