Jeff Giordano: How Steve Lavagnino Helped Make Ricardo Valencia the 5th District Supervisor

First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate Santa Barbara County’s new Fifth District supervisor, Ricardo Valencia. His victory over Maribel Aguilera was the result of an effective campaign engineered by the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee, the Democratic Women of Santa Barbara, and the endorsements of Assemblyman Gregg Hart, Supervisors Laura Capps and Joan Hartmann, and rent control activist and Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Wendy Santamaria. But perhaps the individuals who contributed most to Valencia’s victory are retiring Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino and his longtime chief of staff, Cory Bantilan, who lost his bid for the post in the June 2 primary. Christian Alonso, the rather sharp Santa Barbara County Democratic Party chairman, called Lavagnino’s retirement after 16 years a “generational opportunity” to change the balance of power in the county. He was absolutely correct.

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