Gregg Hart’s October remarks about a fading Republican Party in Santa Barbara County provoked an outcry from local party members, but you would never know it since the current Republican Central Committee did not return the favor.
Growing up here in Santa Barbara during the '60s and '70s, this area was as red as a matador’s cape. However, things began to change in the '80s and '90s. Now Republicans are at 25 percent. When a cancer patient is diagnosed, doctors do everything they can to find the source. Republicans need to do the same and examine local leadership.
Most people we talk to are not even aware there is a Republican Central Committee. A Democratic one also operates here, as well as in all other California counties except two. They are deemed to be too small to support them.