Political Malpractice in the Third District Race

by Mike Stoker

Political Malpractice in Santa Barbara County’s 3rd District Elections. Credit: The Keystone Cops/Wikimedia

Super Tuesday has come and gone. While there will be a lot of analysis on local and state races and the Presidential nomination around the country, our local races for County Supervisor in the First and Third Districts provide some of the most fascinating election stories you will find anywhere in the country.

The First District race was the Olympic Ice Hockey version of ‘Miracle on Ice’ when a bunch of young kids beat a professional, well-seasoned Russian team to win the Gold at Lake Placid in 1980. In the Third District, however, it was just the opposite. A bunch of folks who thought they knew what they were doing committed what must be considered political malpractice.

First, let me congratulate Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson on his boring and much-expected easy re-election. Supervisor Nelson has done an outstanding job, his constituents know it, and they overwhelmingly voted for him to serve four more years.

Now back to the Third District race.

For a little background, a lot of work was expended a couple of years ago by a lot of people in the re-districting process to get Isla Vista and UCSB out of the third to go into the second. Those efforts proved successful, setting the stage for what many political observers – myself included – thought was a new district where a more conservative and pro-business, pro-taxpayer, pro-law enforcement, and pro-property rights individual could be elected to replace the incumbent, Supervisor Joan Hartmann.

Wind the clock forward to last summer. A group of folks that had been very involved in re-districting took the lead in finding that candidate to beat Hartmann.

His name was Frank Troise.

In the following month, I had numerous encounters with Frank, and by the end of September, I had seen enough to know he was not up to the task and that there would be no chance to beat Hartmann with him as the candidate.

I reached out to the same people who had vetted him in early summer and gave them all the reasons why I believed the guy was not ready and would end up being an embarrassment.

Unfortunately, they stood steadfast in support of their guy.

Lompoc Mayor Janelle Osborne, realizing Troise was not the best candidate, and wanting better representation for North County, did file making it a three-person race.

In late January, the first financial report was filed showing Troise having raised $3,800 with $5,000 plus debt. (To put that amount in context, Bruce Porter, who ran against Hartmann four years ago raised $800,000 and Hartmann began this campaign with over $250,000 in the bank.)  Frank Troise was indeed the wrong choice. The Deputy Sheriffs Association and the SB County Republican Central Committee tried to fill the void. They proceeded to run an aggressive campaign through texts and direct mail to advise Third District voters about Hartmann’s positions. Polling showed the majority of voters believed the county was on the wrong track. The attempt was to keep Hartmann from winning 50% plus one of the votes so that she would face the second-place opponent in the General Election.

The effort failed. Hartmann received just over 60% of the vote. All the hard work in re-districting was for naught. And all those who initially vetted him and then stood by him notwithstanding all the clear evidence that he was not up for the task are complicit in what I think is the greatest act of political malpractice that I’ve ever witnessed.

The bad news is that all the hard work so many people put into winning back the Third District by removing UCSB and Isla Vista was squandered.

Better luck next time.

The good news is the miracle that occurred in the First District. This was a seat everyone said we had no chance to win.

But we did.

Next week I will share with you the story of that miracle.