Former Santa Barbara City Councilmember and current State Assemblymember Das Williams’s campaign for the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors announced Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, an exclusive endorsement from current First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal.

“Das Williams is my choice to succeed me on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors,” said Carbajal. “Das is one of the most effective and experienced leaders we have serving our community. 

“As a City Councilmember and State Assemblymember, Das has helped improve our schools, expand access to college, fight oil off our coast, create jobs, and deliver balanced budgets.  Das delivers results. We need his leadership on the Board of Supervisors and I’m proud to support him,” he said.

News of Carbajal’s endorsement comes on the heels of the release of new campaign finance figures showing Williams with a massive cash-on-hand advantage of more than $280,000 over his closest challenger.

“Supervisor Carbajal’s leadership on the Board of Supervisors is second to none,” said Williams. “He is a proven problem solver who has been a leader on so many issues from protecting our environment and coast to creating opportunities for local families. It is an honor to have his full support and confidence.”

Carbajal is the latest to join a growing coalition of elected leaders, small business owners, environmentalists and community leaders united behind Das Williams for Supervisor that includes (but is not limited to) the following: State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson; Santa Barbara City Councilmembers, Gregg Hart, Cathy Murillo, Bend White, Fred Shaw and Al Clark; Santa Barbara Unified School District Board Members Pedro Paz, Kate Parker and Monique Limón; Montecito Planning Commission members J’Amy Brown and Susan Kelly; and RIchard Shaikewitz, Montecito Water District.

Assemblymember Das Williams currently represents over half of Santa Barbara County and a quarter of Ventura County in the California State Assembly, a position to which he was elected in 2010.

Prior to his service in the Assembly, Williams served 7 years on the Santa Barbara City Council from 2003-10 and also served as a trustee for Peabody Charter School in Santa Barbara. 

During his extensive public service, Williams has earned a reputation as a champion for renewable energy and the reduction of green house gas emissions.

In the Assembly, Williams helped successfully advocate for a requirements that 33 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2020.

With the state on track to hit that goal, Williams has authored legislation to increase the renewable energy goal to 50 percent by 2030. 

A lifelong advocate for our coast, Williams championed required testing of groundwater before, during and after hydraulic fracturing, which was included in California’s regulations on fracking.

He is currently authoring a bill to expand groundwater monitoring to other types of injection wells to protect underground sources of drinking water from oil and gas wastewater disposal. 

Williams also took leadership to ensure statewide resources would be spent locally to provide relief from the drought, including securing funds for the Lake Cachuma pump project and supporting funding for water recycling and conservation efforts.

He has also been a leader on emergency preparedness, hosting an emergency preparedness fair every year since he took office and working to ensure 911 calls are correct routed to cut down on response time. 

Williams grew up in Santa Barbara County and attended local schools. In addition to his service in elected office, he taught at Antioch University in Santa Barbara, worked as a junior high school teacher, as well as a legislative aid to California State Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson.

Williams holds a master’s degree in environmental science and management with a focus on water pollution, planning processes and land-use law from UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science. 

— Pat Dennis represents Das Williams.