First District Supervisor and Congressional hopeful Salud Carbajal on Friday held a meeting with Los Angeles Congressmember Xavier Becerra, New Mexico Congressmember Ben Ray Luján, and Santa Barbara Latino stakeholders to discuss voter participation among the county’s Hispanic residents.
Present at the closed-door roundtable, held at La Casa de la Raza, were representatives from nonprofits like CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for A Sustainable Economy) and The Fund for Santa Barbara. Members of the Central Labor Council, SEIU, and the Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce opined on an array of issues ranging from workers’ rights and the rising minimum wage to immigration reform and affordable higher education.
Democratic State Assembly candidate and Santa Barbara school board member Monique Limón and 4th District supervisorial candidate Eddie Ozeta were also in attendance. “I’m not here to support Salud; I’m here to ask questions,” Ozeta, a Republican and SEIU 721 board president, told The Santa Barbara Independent while filing out of the conference room.