A powerful Sacramento law firm associated with the statewide Republican Party issued a sternly worded “cease and desist” order to Diane Gabriel and the Montecito Sanitary District, ordering them not to purchase any more advertisements on the subject of “partially treated” wastewater being dumped into the ocean. The letter — from the firm Bell, McAndrews & Hiltchachk — said the advertisement was clearly intended to influence the outcome of the current election for the Montecito Sanitary District, thus violating state election code barring the expenditure of public funds by any public agency on behalf of any candidates or ballot measures.
The ad in question — which appeared in last Sunday’s News-Press — alludes only to information the district characterized as misleading in “news articles, political ads and mailers.” The ad never mentioned by name the organization printing these mailers — the Montecito Committee for Water Security — or the names of the committee candidates now running for two seats on the sanitary board of directors.
The water security slate has attacked the sanitary district for not providing recycled treated wastewater and for “dumping” 500,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater into the ocean daily. Sanitation district manager Diane Gabriel has objected the term “partially treated” as both inaccurate and alarming. “We want people to know their beaches are clean and the water is safe to swim in,” she said, insisting that the treated wastewater — piped nearly 1,500 feet off the coast — meets secondary treatment standards.