COUNTY COUGHS UP MORE CASH FOR 'PRIVACY' LAWYERS AS LOCAL BUREAUCRACY GROWS

Your Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, in their infinite wisdom and bottomless appetite for spending, recently rubber-stamped another extension for those high-priced 'privacy' lawyers at Hooper, Lundy and Bookman, P.C. One has to wonder what exactly constitutes 'privacy legal services' for a government entity that increasingly wants to know everything about everyone, all while shrouding its own operations in a fog of consultants and legalese. Apparently, protecting your 'privacy' now requires a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract that sails through with the usual bureaucratic inevitability.

This isn’t just about another line item on an agenda; it’s about the ever-expanding bureaucratic leviathan feeding on your hard-earned dollars. While regular folks struggle with inflation and property taxes, the County finds new and creative ways to siphon funds into its favored legal firms. Extending this contract until October 2027, just as the local economy is trying to recover from years of progressive mismanagement, feels less like prudent governance and more like a never-ending buffet for politically connected attorneys.

And let's not forget the usual bureaucratic dodge: declaring that approving this contract isn't a 'project' under the California Environmental Quality Act. Of course it isn't. No financial maneuver by the county ever seems to be a 'project' under CEQA when it benefits the entrenched establishment, but heaven forbid a rancher wants to build a shed. The only 'environment' being affected here is the fiscal health of Santa Barbara County taxpayers, which is rapidly becoming as endangered as the spotted owl, thanks to these sorts of back-room deals and legal bloat.

So, as the Board pats itself on the back for another 'administrative activity' that 'will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment,' we at The Whipping Post would like to point out that the only thing changing is the size of the County's legal bills – and the shrinking balance in your bank account. Perhaps next they’ll hire consultants to consult on how to consult more efficiently.