Blessed by the political gods, Oscar Gutierrez won 1007 votes in capturing a 2018 special election on Santa Barbara’s Westside– that now have transformed into six years on the City Council.
Oscar, who represents District 3 on council, recently was appointed to a five-year term that leaves him in place until 2025 (a one-time anomaly accompanying the city’s changeover to even year elections) after no opponent surfaced to challenge him for the post he won temporarily last year, when Cathy Murillo vacated the seat upon being sworn in as mayor.
Nice work if you can get it and Oscar, to his credit, seemed both genuinely humble and truly amazed at his great good fortune as he talked about representing the people of the neighborhood where he was born, raised and lives today, during a half-hour one-on-one Newsmakers interview.
The former director of the very program on which he was appearing, the now and future incumbent discussed policy, from tenant rights and the troubled city permit bureau to partisanship and the massive pension liability on Santa Barbara’s books, while also scuffling to cite examples of when he’s deviated from the Dem playbook and vigorously disputing as a false narrative criticism of him as a Mayor Cathy pawn.
It’s all here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.