I have lived in the Santa Cruz County’s First District since 1988. I am deeply involved in many community matters, notably protection of the environment and affordable housing.

I greatly appreciate Lookout’s elections forums, provided as a public service! Unable to attend in person, I watched the District 1 supervisor election forum online. Every minute of it. Thank you for making that venue available. I was able to make my own determination about what was said and how it was said.

What impressed me the most was that Supervisor Manu Koenig’s responses demonstrated his depth of knowledge and were pragmatic and realistic. Whereas, challenger Lani Faulkner seemed to have lots of ideas but little to turn those ideas into reality. Dreams are good. We all have some, right? That said, we have to face reality as well, especially when it comes to implementing government services. In that regard, at least there was occasional agreement between the two candidates.

I was definitely annoyed when Faulkner, sounding like Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” spoke about all the people who talked to her complaining how “their voices had not been heard and their needs not met” (her words) by the incumbent supervisor. Yet Lani never spoke about her own voice not being heard! That made me wonder if she had ever attended any of Manu’s monthly one-on-one constituent meetings, open to all. I have, many times in the past three years. Manu listens. In person he takes notes and then says how he can or intends to help. Has Lani ever emailed him and made a request as a constituent? 

As a senior, low-income resident, in a rent-controlled housing community, I was especially shocked to hear Faulkner say seniors were not being served by the incumbent! My experience has been so very different that I have to wonder from where that unsubstantiated charge came. My senior voice, whether in person or via email, has consistently been heard during Manu’s first term as my supervisor. As have multiple voices of seniors and low-income residents. 

As an environmentalist, I was equally shocked to hear Faulkner denigrate Koenig’s request last year to re-look at Segment 10 of the rail corridor trail alignment, due to concern (heard from constituents and the public in general) about the multi-hundreds of trees that are slated to be felled in Live Oak’s urban forest. Her dismissive “something about trees” remark was especially irritating. Probably best I was not at the forum in person, as I might have blurted out something not ladylike.

I found Koenig’s response to the moderator’s question about an example of compromise and collaboration interesting and real. After initially laughing and saying something like, “you mean on every issue I deal with daily?” his serious answer illustrated how a supervisor works for all, not just some, constituents and that there is rarely an issue of absolute agreement by 100% of those constituents. 

Also very interesting was a statistic given by Koenig but not reported in Lookout’s post-forum article by reporter Max Chun. Supervisor Koenig referred to the 58% of donations over $100 to his campaign being from District 1 residents, while the majority of Faulkner’s donations over $100 were from residents of District 3. Not to be provincial or naive, but shouldn’t it be residents of District 1 who elect their supervisor? 

I’ll add that in the 2020 election for supervisor, Manu Koenig received 57% of the vote (compared to 43% for the incumbent) to win a decisive victory. And no one is claiming that election was rigged!

A supervisor has a job to do that includes representing a diverse, multi-cultural community that is not a homogenous whole. So there will always be disappointments. Manu Koenig has communicated, listened and done the people’s work with an excellent staff for three years of his four year term. The two most senior outgoing supervisors, who well understand the more than full time job of serving as a supervisor, have watched Koenig carefully for three-plus years and are endorsing him! 

In summary, Manu has accomplished a lot and deserves another term. I’ll take a supervisor that knows he cannot do the impossible but works tirelessly to do the best he can for all constituents.

Jean Brocklebank

Santa Cruz