Rich for Commissioner

POLITICS

Letter to the Editor by Barry Jacobs

Elected officials generally fall into two broad categories.

Many merit the tainted term “politician” because they start campaigning for reelection the moment they take office, tailoring words and actions to benefit their personal prospects and the interest groups to which they feel beholden.

A smaller subset are appropriately considered public servants. Like Penny Rich, their actions in public and private are geared to do the best they can for those they serve without fealty to a particular group, unbending ideology or electoral calculation.

Penny Rich is a person of conscience and passion. She is indefatigable in seeking constituents’ views and in courting self-improvement as an Orange County commissioner. She is willing to do the hard work to forge collaborative solutions.

Penny is a strong voice for social justice and education, for savvy spending and economic development appropriate to our land use plans and community values. She supports those least able to help themselves and our shared environment, which needs public servants to speak on its behalf.

Whether affordable housing or climate change, she was a leader before fashion made those concerns the topics of the day.

I’m proud to support Penny Rich for reelection to the District 1 seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners and urge you to do likewise.