Disagree Mightily… but Compromise

[Speech Transcript: Board of Supervisors’ Induction Ceremony, January 7, 2024]

Good morning. It’s a true honor to be here today. I still believe that public service, when done right, is one of the loftier things a human being can do. And I have the utmost respect for what all of you here have chosen to take on. None of you are getting rich off this. At least that’s the plan. 

It feels slightly poetic for me to be standing here today. It’s a matter of public record I was an “early adopter” of Laura Capps and also, we, the Montecito Journal, were the first to endorse candidate, now Supervisor, Roy Lee. So, Roy, congratulations on being seated here today. And congratulations to the Montecito Journal for its prescience.

And of course, congratulations and thank you to all the Supervisors, but particularly, today, to Supervisor Laura Capps for being the newly elected Board Chair. And to Supervisor Bob Nelson, Supervisor Joan Hartman and Supervisor Roy Lee for being sworn in as returning and new members of this very important body. Many people don’t know what Supervisors do, but so much that impacts the quality of our daily lives depends on your stewardship and leadership on this board.

I agreed to speak today and am honored to have been asked because this swearing-in somehow feels more important than any “normal” swearing-in. We’re at a moment when our governance, if not our republic, has never felt more precarious, at least not in my 40 short years on this planet. Did I say 40? I meant 50. Or thereabouts. 

Consider the bizarre context in which this swearing-in is taking place. Let’s look at the mere one week that’s passed since the Dumpster Fire of ‘24 gave way to the Dumpster Fire of just the first 24 hours of 2025. As Jerry Roberts said, quoting John McCain who was, oddly, quoting Chairman Mao when he said, “It’s always darkest… before it’s pitch black.”

Suffice to say, these are trying times and as Bette Davis said, “Fasten your seatbelts, we’re in for a bumpy ride.” 

But I’m not here today to talk about the bumpy ride. I’m here to talk about why local politics matters and has never been more important. Why many of the things that affect us most in our daily lives are under the purview of this board. 

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that we’ve never needed courageous leadership more than we do at this moment… And so, the swearing-in of three supervisors seems like the perfect forum to discuss what good leadership can and should look like. 

These are things that are not in your job description, but I would urge you to keep them in your arsenal. 

First and foremost, I think a good leader provides hope. 

In fact, in the political arena, I think hope is tantamount to oxygen. It’s no coincidence that three of our last five presidents made hope a cornerstone of their campaigns. 

– President Clinton, famously, campaigned as the “Man from Hope.” 

– Barack Obama campaigned almost exclusively on “hope.” I think we all remember those Shepard Fairey posters.

– But even the wording of MAGA contains a hopeful promise: that America will, once more, be great. MAGA promises a bright future… albeit one that is steeped in the past. 

If there’s anything the American electorate has made repeatedly made clear, it’s that hope is an essential ingredient of the American pie. 

Hope allows people to believe that there are better things to look forward to. That their participation and their existence matters. That there’s something to hold on to, and for. “The sun will come out tomorrow,” as Annie likes to sing. 

People want to feel inspired. And engaged. And seen. They want to believe that you are their advocates. That you are offering them a future worth investing in. There are plenty of human wrecking balls on the American political landscape. The counterbalance is Hope so I think that’s a great place to start.

Another ingredient I think is important and SO undervalued, is The Lost Art of Compromise. 

Where did THAT go? How is it that we’ve somehow come to believe that we have to agree on everything in order to work together? Or, as linguist Deborah Tannen asked, “When did the word compromise get compromised? When did the negative connotations of ‘He was caught in a compromising position’ replace the positive connotations of “They reached a compromise?”

After all, the U.S. Constitution was born out of one of the greatest exercises in political compromise ever on display. Amidst our current winner-take-all political landscape, I decided to look into when “compromise” became such a dirty word? Because it certainly has not aged well.

The word has been around for eons, it comes from Latin and French and originally was a combination of “com” meaning “we” and “promise” which meant “promise to arbitrate.” Quite literally compromise was a mutual promise that each party agreed to give up something in order to create or achieve a greater good. At least that’s what the word meant for centuries.

The lauded statesman Henry Clay, known as the “Great Compromiser,” back when that was a compliment, was revered for his ability to broker compromise. Clay said, “All legislation, all government, all society is formed upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, and courtesy – upon these everything is based.” That’s a long haul from where we are today.

The cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said of compromise that, “We are a society which must be more committed to a two-party system than to either party. One must fight to the death… not for your party to win but for the right of the other party to be there too.”

I sometimes think about modern marriage, which of course is another institution that depends on compromise, in a similar way.

In our home, you could say we have a two-party system that (mostly) works. My husband and I have been married 21 years. And not to air too much dirty laundry, but unlike all the rest of you, I’m sure, there have been days in our marriage, rare though they are, when one or the other of us has not felt, shall we say, 100% in love. On the other hand, both of us are, every day, committed to the marriage; in the Margaret Mead way – we may sometimes disagree profoundly, and even profanely – but we are equally committed to making a “more perfect union,” as the “compromising” framers of the Constitution once said.

Foundational to compromise is, of course, debate, which is essential to working through problems. Debate even helps us understand our own positions better. Especially when it’s built on respectful disputation. If, in our world, there could be more verbal sparring, not to win but to arrive at greater truths and understanding, imagine the bridges we could build.

I think it’s important to give credit here to this Board of Supervisors which has already done a great job of modeling a commitment to talking through difficult issues. The debate over taxation of cannabis is a fine example of multiple hours of respectful deliberation on a contentious issue. You’ve done the same, repeatedly, on housing – and recently you did so on the Agricultural Enterprise ordinance.

I point this out because this is not true of many local governments where electeds simply announce their opinions and then vote with scant if any deliberation. So, thank you for modeling for us the value of vigorous debate. And for your commitment to compromise.

Because extremes play a role in framing an issue, but compromise is where most of us in the vast middle can see ourselves reflected. 

The final ingredient of good leadership that I’d like to talk about today is what I call the unexpected value of Inexperience.

When Roy Lee announced he was running for the 1^st District Supervisor seat, many questioned whether he was a seasoned enough politician to do the job. Whether he knew the ins and outs of the county and had the necessary political chops to win and serve as a Supervisor.

I submit to you that it was precisely because Mr. Lee was not seen as a “seasoned” career politician that he is here today being sworn in.

In many ways I see this election as a rebuke of politics as usual. I think this moment calls for us all to try getting out of bed on a different side. To think outside the box. To question some of the things we’ve long taken for granted.

I ask you to embrace what I call Supervisor Lee’s “invaluable inexperience.” To which I particularly feel a kinship because when I took the helm at the Montecito Journal, I’d never run a local newspaper before. You could say I wasn’t qualified. But in many ways, I came to see my inexperience as a great advantage. In fact, I attribute some of our important successes, at least in part, to what I didn’t know we couldn’t do.

To underline this point, prominently hung in our home is an iconic MAD Magazine cover which depicts Alfred E. Newman holding the severed branch of a tree with one hand while he blissfully swings from a swing that hangs off the very branch that he himself is holding. Which is, of course, a physical impossibility! There’s no caption to the illustration but I always thought the caption should be “He doesn’t know what can’t be done – therefore he can.” 

We constantly hear how government is not very nimble. How hard certain kinds of bills are to get through “congress.” It’s easy to give in to cynicism and momentum and the forces of political gravity, but I think Roy Lee will bring fresh air and ideas to the Board of Supervisors and I hope everyone recognizes that as an asset.

And just as I hope and trust that you will thoughtfully and lovingly take him under your wing as he learns the well tangled ropes of this vaunted institution, I hope too that you will allow him to take you under his. And, I hope you all will occasionally embrace the spirit and the power of not knowing what can’t be done.

I challenge you to reach high… to know that you are only limited by the boundaries of your imaginations. And to understand that in order to truly win, sometimes we have to risk losing.

Santa Barbara’s natural and human bounty is unparalleled. Thank you for working to make Santa Barbara the beacon that can help lead us out of what sometimes feels like a very dark moment. We’ve got a great team to get us there. All we need is some imagination, some courage and a spirit of compromise. It’s not a dirty word. 

I think it’s useful to remember the words of the Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

Good luck. I thank you for your service and for the privilege of speaking here today.