Five days before the June 7 primary, an otherwise jejune campaign season boils down to one key question in the two races -- 2, count 'em, 2 - that have generated any excitement, interest or political entertainment: can long shot challengers upset incumbent hopes for re-election in the contests for Sheriff and County Superintendent of Schools?
Nick Welsh, Josh Molina and Ryan P. Cruz join the genial host to break down all the action in this week's, 11th hour campaign forum, opining that PE teacher Christy Lozano's best moments came in arguing for online video streaming and recording of Board of Education meetings, while Superintendent Susan Salcido scored with an unexpected and aggressive closing statement that portrayed her rival as a culture war opportunist.
Elsewhere on the education beat, the gang weighs in on the chances for success of the Santa Barbara school board's effort -- on the last day of school -- to lower the temperature of the furor surrounding SBUSD Supe Hilda Maldonado, ignited by several hundred teachers and a batch of Very Online parents.
They also analyze the pros and cons the City Council faces in trying to balance the rush to build ever more hotels in Santa Barbara against the perceived need to construct more housing, while trying to untangle the cost-benefit calculus of diverting to construction of workforce housing some of the growing revenue generated by tourists who pay the city's stiff hotel levy -- aka the Transient Occupancy Tax, or TOT -- on top of soaring nightly rates.
Plus: the flip side of the fractious fractional ownership debate, election forecasts, yet another round of Josh vs. Jerry mud wrestling over Hilda -- and the Angry Poodle goes the long way around Hogan's Barn to explain why litigation aimed at curbing the sales of dildos, filed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz in a previous incarnation, is directly related to Sheriff Bill Brown's looming loss of authority over concealed gun permits at the hands of the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court.
You could look it up.
It's all here, right now on Newsmakers TV. Check out the new episode via YouTube below or by clicking through this link. The podcast version is here.
Image: Ted Cruz - Size Matters (YouTube).