A few days ago, Das Williams inserted himself into the election for County Supervisor for the Third District (inclusive of Isla Vista and the UCSB campus) with a baseless attack on a volunteer who supports my candidacy. My opponent, Joan Hartmann, shortly thereafter joined him on social media. My name is Bruce Porter and I wish to speak to you, the readers of this newspaper and the students of this great institution.
Make no mistake, I humbly ask for your vote, freely given and purposefully bestowed. However, to that end I refuse to patronize you — students from one of the top ten public universities in the world — as Mr. Williams and Ms. Hartmann have done in their opinions and in their blind support of voter registration practices that put you at risk.
As an investment professional, I am distinctly aware of the threats posed by those who would misuse and abuse personal information. The difference between Mr. Williams, Ms. Hartmann and I is that I have greater respect for your technological knowledge and your understanding of precautions to protect yourself from identity theft.
In a free exchange of ideas I have great confidence in your ability to participate in your right and privilege to vote and to personally and responsibly register and exercise that franchise without partisan nannies to do the work for you. Das Williams and Joan Hartmann do not have the same confidence in your abilities.
I have dedicated my candidacy to posing real solutions to problems that have plagued our county. One such solution was an outreach to students and residents of UCSB and Isla Vista to avail themselves of the most secure and efficient methods for voter registration. To that end I sought the input of a woman with a gift for establishing a deep and meaningful rapport with students and local citizens, and for that she has now become a target of my opponent’s campaign.
Let me ask you: What is the more secure release of personal information? Is it to hand a total stranger, your name, date of birth, driver license number and social security number on a card with no knowledge of to whom or to where it’s going, or is it to input directly on a State of California secure server? This is, after all, the 21st century.
Terry Baxter is a single mom, a grandmother, an SBCC student and a passionate believer in the promise of local government to solve local problems and address real needs. When you meet her, you’ll find she is of great conviction and won’t be bullied. She and I will share our ideas like Isla Vista 2.0 to give you a voice in your own future and in that of Isla Vista and to provide to Isla Vista its rightful share of county resources, on the ground, where they are needed.
If you’ll give me a chance, I’ll share my other ideas for listening to residents and working together to provide solutions to improve Santa Barbara County for all of us.
Bruce Porter served as an officer of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and currently serves on the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School Board. He is currently running for Third District County Supervisor.
Bruce – what are your thoughts on Terry Baxter requesting the records of 9,000 UCSB students in 2008 and litigating to disqualify all of our votes?
Also, why exactly do you oppose Measure F? Why did you not incorporate wide input from the community, or even community leaders, in developing IV 2.0? Is this how you will govern? Not including us in decision about us?
Mr. Porter offers a feeble defense of his voter registration tactics in IV, but introduces a very strong new issue. As a professional investment advisor he will keep his client’s names confidential. Due to a gap in financial disclosure laws, this means if he is elected the public will never know if he has a significant financial relationships with the people who come before the Board of Supervisors seeking personal gain.
“I humbly ask for your vote.”
Wow Bruce, even the most unremarkable sounding line in your letter is a falsehood. You encourage students the vote with their parents – outside of your district. These students will not be able to vote in your race. That’s a really cynical strategy you’ve got there. It doesn’t sound to me like you’re asking for their vote at all.
This description of the way people have registered to vote, for decades and decades and decades (handing “a total stranger, your name, date of birth, driver license number and social security number on a card”), is ludicrous. That’s how we have always registered to vote! (I love the scary “with no knowledge of to whom or to where it’s going.”) This guy is telling us we shouldn’t fill out the voter registration cards printed by the Secretary of State and turn them in to the people who want us to register to vote so we will vote for their preferred… Read more »
This sounds so high-minded, pretty much like the rhetoric used during Jim Crow in the South to keep minorities from voting. Notice that Porter never spoke to Baxter’s nefarious history in presenting her evidence of UCSB student registration and voting that a judge termed frivolous. Notice he didn’t rebut the charge that Baxter tried to get the court to order the release of private information of 9,000 students who had registered lawfully.
Porter has revealed himself to be a hypocrite. Little else needs to be said.
Mr. Porter’s campaign finance statements reveal that he has paid this “volunteer” $12,000 so far, plus over $3,000 in expenses.
“To that end I sought the input of a woman with a gift for establishing a deep and meaningful rapport with students and local citizens” sounds like a fine idea except that this person has apparently been paid well to come into IV and pretend to care about student voting rights. This person isn’t just someone who is interested in IV out of the goodness of her heart and civic duty. She was twice failed candidate Steve Pappas’ campaign manager and, she was a prime player and witness in his frivolous lawsuit against Supervisor Farr trying to disenfranchise thousands of… Read more »
Bruce – in one article you refer to Baxter as a member of your staff, in another you refer to her as a volunteer. What is her role in your campaign?
Porter’s form 460 for 7/01/16 to 9/24/16 indicates $12,000 payments to Terry Baxter under the category “campaign consultants”. So not a volunteer
What a crock. Plus, a bad writer.
Vote Hartman!
Bruce Porter hires this woman knowing her disgracefull history in IV, sends her out to do more of the same, then dishonestly defends her when caught. Vote Hartman.
There is Terry Baxter here…
acting as a reporter.
Pappas wasn’t initially a bad guy. But he sunk into the depths when he sued over alleged improprieties, and not a single allegation survived scrutiny.
Bruce Porter messed up by involving Terry Baxter.
Wow, voter fraud is an epidemic sweeping the nation? What a crock! This propaganda has been promulgated by the right wing, as a scare tactic, but there is absolutely NO evidentiary support for the claim. The incidence of “voter fraud” has been found to occur in such a tiny number of cases, that federal courts are invalidating states’ voter ID laws all over the country. I’m sure it’s true, though, that if Trump doesn’t win the election, it will be because of voter fraud. After all, the system is rigged, right? Students: Please register and vote in local elections! The… Read more »
To anyone who is reading these comments; as someone who is currently and regularly registering individuals to vote, you absolutely 100% will not have any of your info stolen. This is a tactic employed by the Porter campaign that is designed to keep UCSB students from voting because the majority of us are liberal and do not agree with Porter’s support of big oil and similar right wing stances. And in fact, the online voter registration system has been very glitchy, with many students being de-registered in the primary. Please, if you want to make sure you can exercise your… Read more »
Thanks for sharing Bruce. The debate over who will get to run Isla Vista has been overly pushed in favor of Joan Hartmann and the Democrats, without even much option for guys like you to get a fair say. I hope you can get more articles published in the Daily Nexus!