Why did Das Williams get ousted from his seat on the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors?

Steve Lavagnino, chair of the board, has an idea.

“It is weird that Das now is the establishment,” Lavagnino said. “You are the rabble-rouser, you are the underdog, and then you rise up through power, you consolidate power around you and then the guy sneaks up on you and takes you down. It’s probably a lesson that has happened a million times.”

The affable Lavagnino is not just a pundit and colleague. He calls Williams his friend. The two have known each other for several years, and bonded tighter as the so-called “Doobie Brothers” who worked to craft the county’s controversial cannabis ordinance.

He was shocked when Roy Lee knocked Williams from his perch, in a major political upset for the March 5 election. In a conversation with Josh Molina, journalist and host of the Santa Barbara Talks podcast, Lavagnino said “most of the votes were to punish Das.”

In this podcast, Lavagnino offers a few explanations for why he believes Williams lost and speculates on why former allies such as retired Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley, Santa Barbara Fire Chief Pat McElroy, and retired undersheriff Barney Melekian also endorsed Lee.

“Chief McElroy was about the Montecito ring nets,” Lavagnino said. “Pat is convinced that the ring nets are the right way to do something, Das was convinced the other way, so this is a way for Pat to say ‘I think you are wrong.'”

Losing those endorsements, he said, had an impact.

“Those are powerful people that carry a lot of weight,” Lavagnino said.

In this 75-minute podcast, Lavagnino also offers his views on the county’s Housing Element Update, the need for affordable housing, the controversial cannabis ordinance, and his support of U.S. veterans.

“All these developers came in with great ideas, hey ‘I am going to have 5 miles of trails, we’re going to have this whole area open, and it’s not just open to the people who live there, it’s gonna be for everybody,” Lavagnino said. “None of that is enforceable.”

Lavagnino said what he is worried about is the county getting into a situation where they make deals and move forward, “and then the developer comes back and says the market’s changed, this isn’t what I am able to do.”

The conversation spans many topics, including Lavagnino’s role as chair of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, his views on the county budget and his views on pension reform.

Lavagnino recently traveled to Washington D.C., along with Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, on an SBCAG lobbying trip.

“Randy reminds me, not in age wise, I am probably the same age as Randy, Randy reminds me a lot of my dad,” Lavagnino said. “The filter’s pretty much gone, and that’s a good thing. Randy and I got along really well.”

Lavagnino is a second generation elected official. His father, Larry Lavagnino, is the former mayor of Santa Maria. Steve Lavagnino is registered independent and a former Republican who changed his party status after Donald Trump became the face of the party.

“I am still a fiscal conservative, but what drove me away was all the social issues,” Lavagnino said. “Just the craziness and the whole Trump thing, I was like ‘peace,’ I can’t deal with this. This is not the Republican party I joined under Ronald Reagan.”

Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barbara City College. He formerly covered politics and land use for the San Jose Mercury News. Santa Barbara Talks is an independently owned podcast where Molina looks to bring together voices from all perspectives to discuss and provide solutions to the challenges related to housing, education, transportation and other community issues. Subscribe to his podcast here and consider a contribution here.