Editorial: Swanson for EDC supervisor
Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News convened an editorial panel of six South Shore residents to decide on this endorsement for the June primary.
Politically savvy, connected locally and beyond, astute in policy and knowledgeable in how to make things happen – that’s the type of person Tahoe needs on the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors.
There is only one person running for District 5 who has what it takes to do the job. That person is Angela Swanson.
One of Swanson’s strong suits is the ability to build consensus. She proved this on the Lake Tahoe Unified School District board and continues to do so on the South Lake Tahoe City Council.
Angela Swanson
She is undoubtedly the most progressive of the six candidates. She took it upon herself to get involved with the League of California Cities in ways that no other council member has. This brings a voice to South Lake Tahoe that is unique. While she is reimbursed for some of her travel, she does this on her own time. There is no question Swanson is committed to South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County as a whole.
Swanson is incredibly smart. She knows the issues. She listens. She can change her mind when presented with new information. She is passionate. She cares.
She can step onto the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, California Tahoe Conservancy board (she was the city’s rep), and Tahoe Transportation board (she is the current city rep) without needing to come up to speed. These are all boards that the Tahoe supervisor traditionally sits on, and they are more critical to Tahoe than the Board of Supervisors. This is why who represents District 5 is so critical – TRPA, CTC and TTD have more impact on the lives of those living in the basin than the Board of Supervisors.
Beyond those responsibilities, the primary roles of a county supervisor are to make sure county services are equitably supported throughout the territory and that there is economic stability to provide those services.
Swanson has proved herself to be fiscally responsible on the boards she has served. And she has an awareness of issues that go beyond personal experience.
We hope she can stay focused because at times she seems scattered, which causes her do things that makes us question her judgment. If Swanson can keep it together, she could be the most effective supervisor Tahoe has had – and perhaps the board has had.
However, Swanson has baggage, which gives us pause as we endorse her. She needs to take responsibility for her role in taking money from a man now serving time in prison on drug charges and giving it to a nonprofit education foundation. While there was nothing illegal about the transaction, it raises questions about her ethics and judgment.
By now she should know perception can be much greater than reality. Everyone has made mistakes, had moments they wish they could do over. But Swanson has never publicly taken responsibility for her role in the questionable donation that came in a brown bag. It shouldn’t matter if the DA cleared her – the public hasn’t and she needs to acknowledge this.
Swanson will only succeed at the next level of political office if she grows up a bit, becomes more mature and takes responsibility for her shortcomings as well as her accomplishments.
While we believe Sue Novasel is electable, we don’t believe she has the breadth of knowledge to tackle the job efficiently. And while she says she will give 100 percent to this job, it has been years since she has had a regular full-time job. The supervisor works more than 40 hours a week – it doesn’t end.
Kevin Brown has clearly done his research and comes across as informed. But his ties to developers and other special interests make us question if he is the appropriate voice for Lake Tahoe.
Gerri Grego needs to get more experience beyond the South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission. She also needs some moxie.
Teresa Piper needs experience to be taken seriously.
Kenny Curtzwiler can’t say he is anti-government and then want to be on an elected body. This doesn’t make sense. We don’t need an outsider on the board.
District 5 will be best served for the next four years if Angela Swanson is on the Board of Supervisors. Vote Swanson on June 3.
I respectfully disagree with your panel that Angela is our best choice for supervisor. When she is wrong, she digs in her heels and tries to prove she is right. She demonstrates her arrogance when she abbruptly gets up and leaves an in-session council meeting. Her insistence that the 1400 people that signed the petition against parking meters didn’t know what they were signing, is evidence that she is not listening to the people that elected her. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and her past behavior leaves me doubting her judgment and ethics. Accepting the marijuana money in a brown paper bag is telling.
Back in the day Tahoe had two supervisors on the board and today we are represented by just 2/3 of one supervisor. The Tahoe voice on the BOS has been diminished.
Swanson support for paid parking against the will of the voters is troubling. The fact Swanson has no clue about the economic impacts on homeowners in the neighborhoods is a deal breaker. Either the economics of it escapes her, which is bad, or she doesn’t care, which is damning. What is important to Swanson is that she is right and everyone who disagrees with her is stupid.
This editorial is excellent food for thought.
Thanks Kae and the South Shore Six!
Her support of the SLT parking meter fiasco is enough to scratch her off my list. And being pals with the TRPafia isn’t a plus…
The panel got this right. The commenters about “digging in her heels” are doing the very thing they accuse her of. That short sightedness is why our town goes round and round the debate halls just as we did in high school, and that’s about it. People we elect will make decisions we don’t like sometimes, isn’t that expected? We’re not going to agree with every decision. I believe Angela voted to agree to put the parking issue on the ballot which is exactly what the petition signers asked for . More important than that is what she’s done for this community. This article and whoever the panel is, considered all of the choices and explained their thinking and it makes sense how they sorted it out. Among the choices, Angela would be best.
No way. Too many errors in judgment. She has demonstrated zero leadership skills. The SLT council would not even consider her for mayor or mayor pro-tem because of her propensity to talk extensively and be annoying. As I recall the council publically doubted whether she could represent the councils wishes with regard to the loop road while on the Tahoe Transportation board. The other EDC supervisors will tune her out quickly.
We always hear about the need for better recreation facilities, trails, and events in our community. I’m pretty sure this candidate is not the right choice when it comes to recreation.
Sorry, your strengths lie in the school arena, not the political arena. Your support for paid parking is also a big black mark. Sorry girl, no vote from me.
“She can step onto the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, California Tahoe Conservancy board (she was the city’s rep), and Tahoe Transportation board (she is the current city rep) without needing to come up to speed”
“TRPA, CTC and TTD have more impact on the lives of those living in the basin than the Board of Supervisors”
old Angela is bought and sold by the TRPA-TTD
old Kenny might be the one to stir things up and get something done to benefit the Locals
I was not impressed by Swanson at the recent Meyers meeting. She seemed outright ‘angry’ the entire night, very preachy, and somewhat condescending to the rest of us in the audience. But we all have bad days, so skip to the issues:
She went on and on about how great the TRPA RPU is and how the environmental groups and communities were all on board, yet the same night acknowledged that Meyers should get to decide its own Plan. Hello? It’s the RPU that created most of the Meyers plan issues people are mostly against, and it’s TRPA and the County who are pushing forward even as the community requests more time and thought. The RPU also endorses more large resorts, meaning more min. wage, part time jobs – this certainly doesn’t measure up to the economic vitality Swanson and others claim the RPU will bring to residents. It would be great if our BOS would look at our specific communities and talk to us about the kind of jobs and investments that could actually help existing residents vs. touting the RPU as a solution.
To me, this showed a tendency I’ve seen in her too often to push forward the agency line or believe what they tell her and advocate for that without question. I’d like to think if she did her homework she’d realize she’s been misled by those around her. The last thing our communities need is another BOS pushing forward the same concepts and claims of the agencies, ignoring what the community is saying.
That said, I respect LTN for including some of the ‘baggage’ issues in the editorial. It looks like the group of 6 put a lot of time into this decision.
I can not vote for a politician who believes everything their staff tells them. We have to believe the staffs numbers on parking meters. She needs to do her own homework. Also if you dig your heals in to stall or stop your constituents from voting on an issue you did not listen!!! I strongly disagree with these 6 voters.
You bet she has baggage she quit the school board for her own profit, excepted questionable money claiming a charity only after the DA accused her of bribery, sold out the donor and ran from the facts. Its time we elected people that actually care not those looking for a political job.
We need a “none of the above” box to check. Not one of these candidates has my support.
I think this is possibly the best and most accurate editorial I’ve ever read in this publication and believe this panel of six South Shore residents hit the nail on the head. I’ve historically criticized Angela Swanson and believe her dialogue frequently becomes tedious, but I think that Ms. Swanson possesses all the attributes described in this editorial, along with all the shortcomings.
However, it was the reference to the critical importance of Ms. Swanson’s total familiarity and existing associations with the TRPA, CTC and TTD that really got my attention. The declaration of the influence and impact of those three organizations on South Lake Tahoe is NOT an understatement and they DO have way more influence and impact on Federal and State level policy and funding for the South Shore than El Dorado County could ever hope to have. Having a Supervisor with total familiarity of those organizations mechanisms and staff is extremely important and we can’t afford to have representation on a learning curve in those situations.
While I would recommend that Swanson abbreviate her dialogue in an attempt to be concise and succinct I agree with this panel that District 5 will be best served for the next four years if Angela Swanson is on the Board of Supervisors. She may not be liked by some local people for her positions on certain local battles, but I think in the end she will win the war for us with the Feds, State, and EDC.
I liked your candid evaluation think that your recommendation for Angela Swanson is well thought out, but what the bottom line is, what you seem to be saying is she is the best of the bad in your opinion. I agree that this is our situation, my choice is just different.
Swanson is arrogant, a chronic joiner, and while she seems well connected, it looks to me like she has her sights on professional politician ship. The very last thing we need.
She has no concept of what it is like to be a wage earning middle class citizen,.
Curtzweiler’s candidacy is a joke, I loved your characterization of him. Seems one dimensional and not proven to play well with others.Always looking for the Gotcha!
Grego, and piper, are too focused on things they have little chance of actually making any progress towards. Neither are well informed about other than bullet talking points.
Brown is my vote. I believe he is worth the chance, although I must say I honestly felt the same way about Santiago, to my long term disappointment. Norma turned into another wanna be professional politician who will do and say anything to make a connection she believes will help her persdonally tomorrow or next year.
Your characterization of Brown as too tied to special interests could be said, even more vehemently, about Swanson and Novasel.
You just believe their special connections are better is my guess.
As I said before….we have a choice basically, of the best of the bad. Very sad.
Not a chance. She doesn’t listen to the residents and backed a past city manager with his dismantling of recreation. There are better choices and she’s not it.
I’m for Angela. She has the qualifications, experience and energy to get this job done.
Thinking of the ‘settled lawsuits’ due to inept leaders and poor decision making and I have to conclude that none of them are qualified. If these people represent Tahoe’s best, well it’s no wonder. Time for new blood, people who have experience to bring with them…not local, nepotism and political agendas.
I was sitting in the Court House one day, two years ago, and one of these candidates walked in, saw me and for whatever reason began a rant about hating homosexuals. And to think, now this person wants to make decisions for the City.
I have lived here for 3 yrs ,I would not vote for Swanson, Just by listening ,and reading ,about her ,How she got in the first place surprises me.I will never voted her in the first place,Lake Tahoe can do better,Go forward Go forward Lake Tahoe go FORWARD,,
Who picked these six on the panel ?
I’ve never liked people down-talkin the competition as done in this article. It’s very immature in nature.
I’m looking at Kevin Brown for the next Supervisor position for El Dorado County. He IS well informed and a good listener. He’s least likely to be sucked into the Agency collaboration nightmare that’s ruining our ability to survive as residents in business.
Bijou park has been one of the success stories for the City. They have the skate park, playground, dog park and more. Its a solid park with good parking and a central location. Last year there was an agreement that the City would allow local BMX advocates to build a new BMX track there so they can retire the one at the middle school. Since then the City has even stored dirt at Bijou to be used in the construction of the track. Its all ready to go….except.
Except Swanson is secretly working to have the track scuttled so that Snow Globe can use the space.
Yes folks, Swanson wants Snow Globe even closer to your homes with even more problems. That is why there is no BMX track. Swanson is smarter than the rest of us, so in her mind there is no reason to make this public.
This is Swanson working for her public again.