By Aaron Ochs, on January 20th, 2013%
 District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson UPDATE (1/31/13 3:00 PM): Here is Mrs. Tornatzky’s comments that she’s made on The Tribune (Courtesy: DISQUS)
UPDATE (1/31/13 9:30 AM): Since the article was published, I’ve been in communication with Lynette Tornatzky, who insists that one of the quotes — though they’re all linked to and verified — we’ve shown of hers was “Photoshopped.” She’s been invited to send us an e-mail and explain specifically her issues with the content shown, but has continuously been unable to do so. Our contact form does work! She continues to insist that I am the “multi-monikered anonymous” who disagree with her views. Paranoia is not a good defense.
Shirley Montague-Devine also responded to the article by asking for my home address to send us her resume. The behavior we’ve seen from Gibson’s most ardent supporters — since this article was published — have been very bizarre and cult-like. We sincerely hope that Gibson doesn’t actually give tacit approval to this kind of behavior.
UPDATE (1/24/13): We received a reply from Lynette Tornatzky, who had this to say about the article and my statements about it. She italicized comments made by me in the Tribune’s January 23 editorial on Gibson, which reflected the nature of the article. “The above statements are all untruths,” she wrote. “But thanks for confirming for me that the bloggers using multiple monikers who spout these same words against me on the comment sections in the various venues are now revealed as being you!” Uh… OK!
News surfaced this week that District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson has re-hired Cherie Aispuro to be his legislative assistant a month after he revealed that he had an affair with her and subsequently transferred her to the County Clerk-Recorder’s office. This came as a surprise to many who thought that Gibson would not reintroduce the topic in such a bizarre way. It’s highly unusual for a sitting politician to continue working with his mistress after already removing her from his office. Gibson’s defiance has clearly overshadowed any of his politics or accomplishments. Because of Gibson’s defiance, the conversation has transmogrified from the morality of his actions to the way he’s handled the issue in spite of growing criticism.
Of course, Gibson has his supporters — and clearly they’re not the kind of surrogates he should have.
Continue reading Meet Bruce Gibson’s Surrogates →
By Aaron Ochs, on December 9th, 2012%
 Supervisor Gibson’s Tribune On December 6 The Tribune published an editorial that said District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson shouldn’t resign. This comes as no surprise to us, given that The Tribune has consistently offered favorable coverage, and was, in fact, contacted by Gibson himself to cover “the exclusive” about his extramarital affair. It would go against the grain for The Tribune to bite the hand that feeds them. But their editorial missed a few things and airbrushed a few details with an elitist stroke, which drew our ire.
Continue reading Tribune Chooses Gibson Over Readers →
By Aaron Ochs, on May 7th, 2012%
 Pulitzer to Cuddy: Nope The politics in San Luis Obispo County has never been pretty. The choice between District 3 Supervisor and incumbent Adam Hill and Pismo Beach city councilman Ed Waage has electrified the political debate in this county. There have been many wild twists and turns during the course of their campaigns, including but not limited to: prank calls, tampering with online newspaper polls, bizarre diatribes on racism and birtherism by the Tea Party, and kindergarten-grade character attacks from a newspaper that prints opinion columns as actual front-page news. This is clearly anarchy, and that reflects poorly on everyone who is involved in the mudslinging.
Continue reading SLO Politics: Guilty By Association →
By Aaron Ochs, on January 16th, 2012%
 Los Osos Internet Troll promotes "healing" This report is based on research that tracked online activity of Los Osos residents since the 2005 recall elections, which effectively stopped the controversial wastewater project on the Tri-W site. The recall was followed by a handful of lawsuits filed by contractors and a local group run by two of the three recalled district board members. Online, there was outcry from anonymous residents who — for more than five years — have conspired to undermine the “obstructionists” who were in support of recall efforts. Their campaign against the “obstructionists” persists to the present.
“Check this out. This is scary,” wrote former Los Osos Community Services District president Lisa Schicker to supporters in July 2006. Elected in November 2004 as a candidate who fought for an “affordable, environmentally superior sewer project,” Mrs. Schicker provided a link in her e-mail to comments made about her by anonymous pseudonyms on a message board operated by The Tribune.
Continue reading The Los Osos Sewer Wars: Fought in Cyberspace →
By Aaron Ochs, on December 21st, 2011%
 Saltwater intrusion ignored On December 13, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors approved a $7.6 million contract to HDR Engineering, a Nebraska-based global firm that would provide construction management services for the Los Osos wastewater project. This came after District 2 Supervisor Bruce Gibson assailed the project opposition for being “irrelevant” and “in denial” in comments that weren’t directly related to the contract itself.
While the costs continue to rise for the project — despite assurances from County Public Works that they are working within their $174 million budget — the project is once again overshadowed by Gibson’s draconian provocations, and the County’s callous unwillingness to look at the social and environmental impacts that Prohibition Zone homeowners would have to face and ultimately pay to mitigate. The last BOS meeting of the year ended on a note of defiance from the board, with no legitimate reason for them to do so other than to lay down a smokescreen to obscure the many questions and concerns they left unanswered.
Continue reading Gibson Calls Saving Millions “Irrelevant” →
By Aaron Ochs, on November 7th, 2011%
 The evil engineers of division Razor Online has an exclusive report, detailing a large-scale operation by County officials to discredit Los Osos wastewater project dissent in never-before-seen detail.
When San Luis Obispo County Public Works Director Paavo Ogren attended a town hall meeting on June 19, 2007, he was asked by a resident about working with Dana Ripley of Ripley Pacific Company and the STEP/STEG collection system. He calmly told the resident, “Personally, I’m not a fan of that technology. Besides, [Ripley] and his project is more or less absurd. I don’t want to work with him, and… so what’s the point in complaining, right? We just follow the process. I just do what I’m told.
“It’s part of the game.”
Continue reading Inside The County Sewer ‘Game’ →
By Ed Ochs, on October 31st, 2011%
 Your host for disaster. Welcome to the “Great Seismic Disaster Game,” the only game show in America where you spin the Seismic Wheel of Misfortune and, if you live in Los Osos, you lose your home no matter what!
Continue reading The Wheel of Misfortune →
By Aaron Ochs, on September 19th, 2011%
 Is anybody home? On October 13, 2010, I wrote an article titled “Get The Facts: Ring Paavo’s Doorbell,” which was understandably controversial. The controversy reached a fever pitch when I took on local radio host Dave Congalton, who wrote an article about it. Since then, I spent time objectively analyzing the overall job performance of the County, and their responsiveness to concerns surrounding the Los Osos wastewater project.
Continue reading ‘Ring Paavo’s Doorbell’ — One Year Later →
By Aaron Ochs, on August 11th, 2011%
 Mr. Katchoman Strikes Again The County doesn’t want you to think about Maria Kelly and Paavo Ogren.
County Public Works unveiled an ace up their sleeve at the SLO County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, August 9. Public Works’ John Waddell told board members during public comment that on August 4 Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1125. 1125, which was introduced by former BOS supervisor Katcho Achadjian, is a supplement to State Senator Sam Blakeslee’s AB2701 that allows the County to “develop a program that would offset the assessments and charges adopted by the county for very low and low-income households with outside funds, including grants.”
Continue reading Unaffordibility Assistance Falls Short →
By Aaron Ochs, on July 10th, 2011%
 Shhhhhh! The County of San Luis Obispo is unlike most counties in California — and across the nation — because of its distinct preference for silence as a general response to public inquiry. Many inquiries and concerns are raised and have been raised by citizens who demand transparency and accountability. However, many of those inquiries and concerns are swept under the rug without recourse. This is the culture of silence, and it’s rudely counter-intuitive to making progress and uncovering the truth about highly questionable governmental practices that have become standard operating procedure in the County.
Continue reading The Culture of Silence →
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