January 01, 2011
County supervisor reveals her priorities for 2011
Republicans are outnumbered on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, where the liberals -- led by Supervisor Steve Bennett -- run the table. Linda Parks, the Republican who represents Thousand Oaks (and portions of other cities) was challenged by Audra Strickland during the primary; Strickland campaigned as the "true" Republican, charging that Parks was a RINO, a Republican in Name Only.
Parks defeated Strickland handily, going on to win in the general election, too. And, as she makes clear in the latest edition of the Ventura County Reporter, she's eager to prove Stickland and other conservative critics wrong in 2011, putting business-friendly policies and job creation at the top of her agenda.
Just kidding.
Check out Parks' top priorities for the new year:
I’d like to see a greater commitment to protecting natural resources for future generations, providing more help for our aging population, increasing access to alternative transportation, and supporting those things that add to our community’s quality of life. In county government, I look forward to new and invigorated programs to protect public safety as we transition to our county’s new sheriff, Geoff Dean; and I look forward to working with our new county executive officer, Michael Powers, to further strengthen our county’s economic health.
Let's see, that's (1) happy-talk environmentalism; (2) pandering to seniors; (3) taxpayer-funded public transit; and (4) inane generalities about "quality of life," all of which have me reaching for my wallet.
In fifth place is public safety, and dead last on Park's agenda is doing something about our lousy economic situation.
Parks goes on:
In terms of land use, our children will see the world’s population double in their lifetimes; and while housing and shopping centers can be built anywhere, high-quality, farmable land is finite, as is water, and these natural resources need to be protected.
While the worlds population might conceivably double in the next 80 years, it won't be because of rapid population growth in the U.S., so her concern about maintaining open space has nothing to do with the birthrate in the rest of the world. More to the point, when you get away from urban population centers, it becomes apparent to the most casual observer that the United States is covered with enormous swathes of undeveloped land, huge regions with few towns and fewer people.
Is there anything Parks hasn't covered in her free-spending wishlist?
Glad you asked.
Additionally, I’d like to see more efforts to develop with foresight, including protection of wildlife corridors so wildlife will continue to thrive in open-space lands in our county.
Wildlife corridors? Seriously?
Sigh.
Ventura County is in the very best of hands.
Happy new year.
Posted by Mike Lief at January 1, 2011 08:36 PM
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Comments
I weep for the glorious bounty that is California
Posted by: Delvin at January 1, 2011 09:41 PM
Political labels mean nothing.
On the environment, Linda Parks can compare herself to former president Theodore Roosevelt who spent his career protecting forests an open space.
On the elderly, Linda Parks stands in the company of George Bush. George Bush and his Republican Congress passed an immensely expensive prescription drug plan for seniors.
Linda Parks deserves some credit for the wonderful standard of living enjoyed by Ventura County residents. People leave Los Angeles to move to Linda's back yard in Thousand Oaks.
A developer never saw a tree he wouldn't cut down or hilltop he wouldn't destroy for a profit. Linda keeps the developers in check.
You don't see any Republican in Congress talk about cutting Medicare benefits. Why don't you write Congressman Gallegly and see if he will publicly state that the government should cut Medicare benefits or even means test social security.
Elton Gallegly is the celebrated conservative icon in Ventura County and he is best known for animal rights activism, not challenging the social welfare state.
Why pick on Linda when you have bigger fish to fry?
Posted by: Johnny Be Good at January 1, 2011 10:43 PM
Like the CA condor, there are very few conservative Republican leaders in CA anymore. Sure, you might see one flying around, but it is alone, scared, and only surviving because stupid people throw tons of money at it to keep it alive.
With the passage of the recent proposition allowing the legislature to pass a budget on 51% vote, CA Republicans became as useful as tits on a condor. With the inability for a Republican to ever win a battle in Sacramento, they will all become Democrat lites. So of course self-proclaimed conservative Supervisor Parks sputters typical Democratic big government spending banalities. Are you really shocked by this?
Posted by: Johnny Double Bass at January 5, 2011 09:51 AM