The February 17, 2006, Looking Forward commentary in the Santa Maria Times by Deborah Brasket, North County vice-president of the Santa Barbara County Action Network (SB CAN), brought to light an interesting issue regarding the proponents of the proposed county split.
The Santa Maria Times article reporting on the February 2nd, 2006, county split forum hosted by SB CAN in Santa Maria stated that several people in attendance asked the pro-split presenters to disclose the names of those who funded the split effort. Toru Miyoshi, former Santa Barbara County supervisor, specifically asked to see a list of contributors.
However, Jim Diani, owner of A. J. Diani Construction and chairman of the pro-split organization, said that the identity of his organization's backers was "irrelevant".
Brasket brings this issue up as a legitimate concern of the citizens. She states that, "It's only reasonable that voters would want to know about any special interest groups that stand to profit from a county split. CFCO's claim that it doesn't matter where the money came from seems disingenuous at best."
"What are they trying to hide?" Brasket asks.
In detective stories, they always say, "Follow the money." It seems the proponents of the county split don't want anyone to be able to "follow the money".
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