A reader posted this question for Ventura County Supervisor candidate Bob Roper:
By Harold GodwinMr. Roper,
If you had been supervisor at the time, how would you have voted on the expansion Waste Management's dump in Simi Valley and the importation of trash and debris from outside of Ventura County? What is your philosophy about the rights of property owners versus those of the community? Do you believe a supervisor should vote to support any or all development in another district if the supervisor representing that district supports it? Do you believe your responsibility is only to those in your district or to the full County?
Please respond with YOUR thinking on this issue in order to give us some insight into how you make decisions. I am sure that there are many - throughout the County - who want to know more about you.
Steve Bennett - who voted with the rest of the Board to make expansion a reality - he has been silent about his reasoning.
Bob Roper replied but it was not posted. I apologize for the delay because it was caught in my spam filter. Here is his reply:
Thanks for your questions. We weren't checking Brian's blog every day, but will now keep a close eye so we can be responsive to your questions. It is important to me that a Supervisor be accessible on important issues. First, let me respond to the question about representation. My primary duty is to the people who voted me in office within my District. My next duty is to make sound policy decisions on the regional issues that affect the County as a whole. I believe in protecting private property rights within the framework of our laws and using our democratic process. Constituents are a mix of private property owners and other residents that form the foundation of our community. As a Supervisor, I refer to the "community" as a whole as its impossible to delineate between those who own property and those who rent. Second, regarding Waste Management. I do not have all the facts to give you a complete response, but let me respond to the general question. An elected Supervisor should not cast their 1/5th vote on any policy item unless they fully agree with the policy. A yes vote is a yes vote and an elected official cannot shirk his/her responsibility at a later date. A Supervisor is elected by their District voters, yet makes policy that affects the entire County. There is no written rule that you honor the issue in another District and I will cast my votes on each policy item in the best interest of my District and the County. Should you have any questions, I'm available at bob@roperforsuerpvisor.com anytime. Thank you, Bob Roper
Thank you Bob Roper for answering a question from my reader.
Thank you for the courtesy of an answer.
It appears that you hold the same position as Peter Foy on the priority of individual property rights - despite the cautious language qualifying your answer. It is also a bit disturbing that you say you don't have the facts on this huge decision that basically makes your County the dumping grounds for the much of the rest of Southern California and reported provides so much funding to the County budget you will be administering.
Nonetheless while your answer was not the one I hoped for - nor as clearly stated as I might have wished - at least you responded. That's more than I can say for the other candidate. Thank you for that.
One suggestion to you or any other candidate for office in this County: have someone in your campaign spend a few minutes at the end of each day reading Brian's blog to get some feedback from residents. It would be a smart thing to do.
The answers are unfortunately, generic non-answers and I have to agree with Harold 100% I had hoped for something more to replace the worn-out, whiny, cowardly Steve Bennett.
Harold Godwin and Mr. Independent:
The Simi Valley Landfill Surcharge Fee provides the County of Ventura with $3+ Million in discretionary revenue annually that is deposited into the County's General Fund.
Because the Simi Valley Landfill Surcharge is unfettered General Fund revenue, the Board has maximum discretion on how to spend it. This is far different than most of the other County funding sources [i.e. intergovernmental transfer payments from the Federal and State governments, grants, etc..], which come with plenty of restrictive strings on spending.
Board members, be they liberal, activist government Democrats, or conservative, property-rights, small-government Republicans, alike tend to welcome discretionary funding sources, since they have maximum political control over their uses.
And if you want to put it into even more granular particularity, the Fiscal Year 2011-12 Adopted Budget for the County of Ventura reports $3.6 Million in expenditure appropriations for the 5 Board of Supervisors' offices. And as indicated above, the County receives $3+ Million per year in Simi Valley Landfill Surcharge revenue, which will grow as the amount of garbage coming into the landfill increases.
Do the government funding math, it's really quite simple. As Deep Throat said to Dan Woodward during one of their covert assignations in a dark, dank and desolate parking garage in Washington, D.C., post the Watergate break-in more than forty years ago, "Follow the money!..."
Thank you, NostraDemus.
That certainly explains the unanimity of support for the dump expansion by all current Board members and candidates - regardless of where they say they stand on environmental responsibility or property rights.
"We have the best government that money can buy." - Mark Twain
Steve Bennett has long ago outlived his usefulness on the Board of Supervisors. He started out as somewhat of a fiscal conservative but has evolved into a tax and spend tool of the public employees unions. They are his primary basis of support so he is now willing to do whatever it takes to cater to their wishes and desires.
Bennett needs to go! Vote for Bob Roper!!!
I agree 100% with all the stuff stated here about Steve Bennett. He is absolutely the worst representative we have on the Board of Supervisors.
Never returns phone calls. Never responds to e-mails. Never communicates with his constituents at all. Steve Bennett is in public service for one reason and one reason only -- to benefit Steve Bennett.
Time for change. Vote for Bob Roper for 1st District Supervisor.
Unimpressed by Bob Roper (or any Peter Foy lackeys) but Steve Bennett is sadly a shadow of his former self, and a paranoid reclusive Supervisor. What uninspiring choices. I'll be writing in my vote for Harold Goodwin or NostaDemus.
Mr. Independent:
Well thank you kind Sir for the surprising encomium and electoral endorsement.
I am most flattered by your vote of confidence in me. However, much like General Sherman's response under similar circumstances, "..If nominated I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.."
On the other hand, if I was to succumb to the siren’s song of political temptation, my conscience compels me to say that like Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, my electoral ethics would always be above reproach.
No matter what I could never be bought, outright. On the other hand, given a high enough price, I most certainly could be rented!
And to add rhetorical insult to ethical injury, much like the grizzly old Sheriff in Arizona used to say at the end of countless successful campaign speeches, “..Ladies and gentlemen, them’s my views. And if you don’t like ‘em, “I’ll change ‘em!.”
Your comment was not marked as spam! Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.
Mitt Romney has become so desperate that he is now trying to use the death of Americans in Libya and Egypt to promote his campaign! Pathetic! My greatest fear is that if Romney is elected he will declare marshall law and make himself a Dictator and then take away everyone's guns!
Steve Bennett,
Needs to be taken down and out. His inability to stand up and fight Waste Management shows he has No Principals. It's time for a change. I'm a Liberal Democrat who lives in Bennetts district but I can't vote for him this time. I will vote for Roper while holding my nose.
When it came time to protect the community on the matter of the Parker Ranch development a few years ago, VCFD officials, presumably under the aegis of Chief Roper, were prepared to toss their own regulations out the window and sign off on a substandard, 20' wide, mile long winding road as a second access to the development.
Good thing the Knolls resident fought so hard against that bone-headed decision because a couple of years later that road was lined end to end with stalled traffic, fleeing the fastest-moving fire we've seen there in a half century.
If Roper's staff had had its way, we'd have seen burnt hulks and body bags lined up the length of Oak Knolls Road.