Tag archives: corruption
March is swiftly approaching and for most California counties that means a bit of spring cleaning. As Santa Barbara County insiders know, however, we are not “most” counties – especially as it relates to transparency and possible corruption. Allow me to explain: Once upon a time, our nation had a rich fourth estate and deep […]
Readers are by now well aware of the ongoing saga involving former MJ writer Mitchell Kriegman’s explosive exposé on city hall cannabis-related corruption that ran on March 12 of this year in the Los Angeles Magazine. The star of Kriegman’s story: Anthony Wagner, spokesperson for the Santa Barbara Police Department, who also played a role […]
It’s now been two months since Los Angeles Magazine published a bombshell exposé by former Montecito Journal reporter Mitchell Kriegman claiming marijuana-related corruption inside Santa Barbara’s City Hall. At the center of Kriegman’s sprawling, roughly 4,000-word story, which the Journal declined to publish last year before Kriegman departed from the paper, was the contention that […]
As a 66-year-old downtown businessman Randy Rowse is no stranger to Santa Barbara city politics. In 1983, Rowse opened the Paradise Café across the street from the Santa Barbara News-Press; last year he sold the joint, which has now been re-christened La Paloma Café. A longtime Democrat, Rowse dropped his party affiliation in the 1990s, […]
I am writing to strongly oppose the appointment of Santa Barbara County Supervisor Das Williams to the Coastal Commission. My personal experience with Supervisor William’s development and oversight of cannabis regulations, in SBC, has demonstrated to me and many others that he has failed to uphold the laws to ‘Protect Public Health, Safety, Welfare and […]
On Monday, March 16, Santa Barbara Interim Police Chief Barney Melekian issued a statement responding to a March 12 Los Angeles Magazine article that raised allegations of corruption and undue influence involving Anthony Wagner, the department’s public information officer, who previously helped run the city’s cannabis dispensary licensing process. Melekian’s announcement stated that he was […]
If we’ve learned anything from the “post-truth” era in which we find ourselves, it’s that substantiated facts are critical to productive public discourse. Allegations and aspersions must be legitimately corroborated. This is the only way to emerge into what will hopefully become a post post-truth era. Across our nation there remain countless fires still smoldering […]
