The Orick Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum for the community to meet with the two 5th District Supervisor candidates and the 4 candidates for Humboldt County District Attorney.
Present were Sharon LaTour candidate for 5th District Supervisor and Ryan Sundberg, who is the current 5th District Supervisor and incumbent.
Three DA candidates Allan Dollison, Maggie Fleming and Arnie Klein were present.
The 4th DA candidate, Elan Firpo could not attend last minute because she needed to prepare for the Bodhi Tree case tomorrow morning. That case has been going through the initial stages of the jury selection process and motions in limine.
In a prepared statement she sent with her campaign manager, Ms. Firpo said that her job must come first and that she had planned to be in Orick previously but those events were rescheduled and that she will visit in the future. She said she would answer questions via Facebook.
All 4 DA candidates were present this afternoon at a rotary lunch/forum in Fortuna.
In response to a question about the General Plan Update, 5th District candidate Sharon LaTour said that Governor Jerry Brown is supporting more staff be added to the Coastal Commission. This led to an uproar and vocal dismay from members of the audience.
An enthusiastic group of approximately 20 people were present this evening. The event was moderated by the Donna Hufford, executive director, Orick Chamber of Commerce.
Each candidate gave an opening statement.
Ms. Latour spoke about collaborative leadership. Mr. Sundberg gave specific answers and spoke about projects specifically related to Orick.
Mr. Klein emphasized as he has in other debates in the past that he would be a DA for the People, not beholden to anyone. He spoke about making changes that would benefit the community and used Hoopa as an example stating that someone would not have to come to Eureka for a DUI. He spoke about those that are harming the environment and that he would offer a 6 month amnesty period where people could bring their land "up to code" at cost to themselves. Mr. Klein spoke off the cuff and at one point, his passion was noted by the moderator.
Ms. Fleming in her opening statement spoke about her experience, her community involvement and qualifications for DA.
Mr. Dollison talked about this being an open race for the first time. Current District Attorney Paul Gallegos is not running for re-election. In his opening statement, Mr. Dollison spoke specifically about what was wrong under Paul Gallegos' regime and what needed to be fixed. He was very classy, including the fact that all 4 of the DA candidates had worked in the DA's office simultaneously at one time.
Upon arrival, audience members had been given paper to write questions and these were asked by the moderator. They went back and forth between Supervisors and DA candidates.
In a question about funding and recruting talent, Mr. Klein responded with, "If the Board of Supervisors does not give me what I want" that he would shame them outside the courthouse. Ms. Fleming said she would go to law schools and recruit and fund additional posts with grants. Mr. Dollison said before recruiting talent, he would fix the funding and resources so that the work environment is such that staff would be retained.
A question was asked to 5th District Supervisor candidates if they were aware how many permits had been issued last year in the County for building and how many open spaces were requested to be developed.
Mr. Sundberg answered with, "76 permits were issued last year countywide and 1 or 2 open spaces."
Ms. LaTour responded with, "I visited a long range planner today. " She then claimed that the state required certain amount of land to be set aside and alleged that numbers had been adjusted in the GPU.
The next question was about what was good about the GPU and what needed fixing? It is in response to this question that Ms. LaTour revealed the Coastal Commission plan. She was taken aback by the very visceral reaction from members of the audience regarding the Coastal Commission. She continued her comments by saying, "This is good news". "More staff means (they will) be more responsive" and "you get to do what you want with your land."
Mr. Sundberg said, "There are a few things ee (Board of Supervisors) have been accused of; one is throwing away years of input." He said they would have scratched and started fresh if that was the case. "I have heard earlier that we made a mess. From my point of view, we are cleaning up a mess. If we would have just put a rubber stamp on the GPU, the only place you could do business is where there is infrastructure." Mr. Sundberg went on to say that when he sits down and explains his vote to people that have been upset, they understand why he voted the way he did.
The next question was to the DA candidates and they were asked about Mr. Gallegos' prosecution of the owner of the Eureka Inn for failure to pay the Transient Occupancy Tax and why this could not have been handled in bankruptcy court?
This led to a lighthearted moment in the debate where Mr. Dollison said he was not at the office at that time, Ms. Fleming had a similar response and Mr. Dollison joked, "Let us pass that onto Arnie."
They all smiled and then Mr. Klein responded, "Just because we can, we should not bankrupt the Eureka Inn and put these people out of work. Just to gratify someone's ego."
Mr. Dollison agreed with Mr. Klein adding, "We should not throw resources to prosecute struggling businesses; it is about priorities and said that the case belonged in civil court."
Ms. Fleming said that it was unfair to other businesses paying taxes and that one solution was to set up restitution.
The last question was about whether the DA's office should get more funding and where it would come from and another highlight of the evening was the lighthearted Sundberg and Klein showdown.
Mr. Sundberg said, "I do think they should get more money." He talked about the deficit in funds and how tough it is to "dole out money" and that each department gets to submit proposals. "Arnie can squeeze the turnip under my desk" to which Mr. Klein responded, "I am a lawyer; I can do it."
There was a nice camaraderie between them, I didn't see how they were going to pull off an event with candidates from two different races, but it actually went really well.
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