I’d like to respond to some statements made recently by District 1 candidate Jim Comstock at candidate’s forums in Lower Lake and Middletown, and in his literature that “for too long, the concerns of South County residents have been neglected or ignored” by the Board of Supervisors and the District 1 supervisor (me).

What do you suppose Mr. Comstock is talking about? I believe he means that the large landowners and developers who are giving thousands of dollars to Mr. Comstock haven’t been able to get everything they want from me and the Board of Supervisors. They feel neglected and ignored, and are betting that they won’t be if Mr. Comstock is in office. All you have to do is look at the reports of who is contributing to Comstock’s campaign and “follow the money.”

Many of these contributors have projects that have been proposed to the county, including residential subdivisions and commercial developments. Others are pushing to have their agricultural land included in the Middletown community boundary as a step towards conversion to residential use in the future.

This type of “good ‘ol boy” politics is as old as the hills, but it's not what we need because when developers and land speculators control our growth policy then we all end up living with the impacts and paying for their cost.

Ed Robey is supervisor for District 1. He is retiring at the end of this year. James Comstock and Susanne La Faver are competing to succeed him.

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