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Amy Coney Barrett confirmed to Supreme Court By JOSH GREGA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
The United States Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Monday with a 52-48 partisan vote, Republicans the majority. When speaking with local Republicans and Democrats regarding Justice Barrett’s confirmation, the opinions were predictably as divided as the votes that confirmed the 115th supreme court justice. Santa Barbara County Republican chairwoman Bobbi McGinnis praised Justice Barrett for an “excellent” performance throughout her hearings and is optimistic that she will fulfill the duties of a Supreme Court Justice without legislating from the bench. “I think she’s going to be a constitutional
Supreme Court judge and I think she’s going to be an asset to our country,” she said. “We don’t want the supreme court to be creating law.” Local Republican and Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business executive director Andy Caldwell said he likes Justice Barrett’s originalist judicial philosophy on the grounds that “changing the constitution without amending it is in violation of the spirit and letter of the constitution.” He added, “It certainly can be amended, it’s been amended dozens of times via the prescribed manner of the law. To change it any other way by judicial fiat violates the basic tenants of the constitution and that of our constitutional republic.” Mr. Caldwell also accused the Democrats for viewing the Supreme Court “through a partisan lens” rather than how it should be,
“blind to politics.” On the other hand, local Democrats viewed Justice Barret’s confirmation as nothing short of a travesty, and a hypocritical one due to the Republicans’ refusal to confirm Merrick Garland as the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016 because it was an election year. Santa Barbara County Democratic Party chair Gail Teton-Landis expressed outrage that Justice Barrett has been confirmed while an election is underway with tens of millions of votes already cast. She also objected to Justice Barrett not answering whether a president should commit to a peaceful transfer of power following an election and took issue with her originalist judicial philosophy. Please see BARRETT on A6
The art of reopening
COURTESY PHOTO
Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Monday.
Candidates run for Hancock College board ELECTION 2020
Editor’s note: This story is part of a News-Press series on local candidates in the Nov. 3 election.
Visitors enjoy partially reopened Museum of Art
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Residents in Lompoc, southeast Santa Maria, Orcutt and Cuyama will see Allan Hancock College’s board of trustees on the Nov. 3 ballot. Three current trustees’ terms are up, but no one challenged Area One trustee Hilda Zacarías. She will start her third term. Jeffery Hall is running for reelection in Area Four, which covers the Lompoc Valley. He has been on the board since 2016. Area Two trustee Dan Hilker is not running again. His spot is hotly contested between Dr. Suzanne Levy and Keri Common. JEFFERY HALL
KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art recently reopened its doors to the public with 25 percent capacity.
By JOSH GREGA
Art graces the museum’s walls.
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
After getting postponed a few times due to changing COVID-19 conditions, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art finally reopened at the beginning of this month, much to the delight of the director Larry Feinberg. “It just feels great,” he told the News-Press. Museum deputy director and chief curator Eik Kahng concurred, since showing people works of art online isn’t quite the same as showing them in person. “The one thing you begin to realize when you’ve been quarantined as long as we have and you work for a fine art museum, is that it’s hard when you don’t have an audience,” she said. She added, “You don’t have a Please see MUSEUM on A8
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Jeffery Hall (Jeff Hall on the ballot) is the current vice president of the board and has served what he has described as a productive first term. Since 2016, the board had instituted the Food Share program, a food distribution service for students and community members. It has also enacted the requirements of AB 705, state legislation that focuses on retaining students in math and English courses through placing more students in transfer-level courses. In a candidate forum posted on the college’s website, Mr. Hall said he’d like to see more faculty diversity. Mr. Hall is an Allan Hancock alumnus who started college after his family migrated from Louisiana to California, a move they made to escape segregation and have more opportunities. He is endorsed by the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party. ROBERT MERCADO
Robert Mercado, an accountant at AppFolio, filed for candidacy but didn’t participate in the candidate forum. He doesn’t have a campaign website or a Facebook page. He is endorsed by the Santa Barbara Republican Party and Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriff’s Association among other organizations. KERI COMMON
Keri Common is an alumna and former employee of Hancock College. She was a payroll
technician at the college for 12 years and now serves as the payroll manager at the Santa Barbara Unified School District. “I understand the value of our tax dollars and the duty to spend responsibly. Dollars count, and experience matters,” she said in her candidate statement. She was a co-chair of the sustainability committee at Allan Hancock and was on the facilities council. She wants to see the college better retain employees. She suggested giving raises and room for advancement, she said in the candidate forum. She is endorsed by many, according to her website, kericommon.wixsite.com. Among those are the Part-Time Faculty Association of Allan Hancock College, current Area Two trustee Dan Hilker and Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino. DR. SUZANNE LEVY
Dr. Suzanna Levy was a computer science professor at Allan Hancock College and has served on the Hope School District board in Santa Barbara. As she raised her children, she got involved in organizations they benefited from. She has been a member of seven parentteacher associations. She has been involved in the arts locally and is currently treasurer of the Orcutt Children’s Art Foundation. She has a doctorate in education, and her dissertation was titled “The Planning and Implementation of Online Distance Learning in the California Community College.” “It is essential that we build upon our excellence to ensure that students receive the highest-quality education, continue our strong program of community education, bring back entertainment and enrichment opportunities, and maintain our outstanding status as one of the top employers in our community,” she said in her candidate statement. email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
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