Doug Deitch, a candidate for county supervisor, speaks before agriculture leaders Wednesday in Watsonville.

It took just a couple hours for Santa Cruz County agriculture leaders to render a verdict for whom they want to win the June race for Second District Supervisor: Ellen Pirie.

Pirie, who has held the position for seven years, earned the endorsement of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau after squaring off with two challengers Wednesday at a campaign forum sponsored by the agency.

Candidates seeking to replace Pirie are water activist and property manager Doug Deitch and Pajaro Valley High School music director Dan Young.

Since farm bureau leaders unanimously supported Pirie, their endorsement was announced almost immediately, with no need for debate.

“Although we don’t agree on every issue, Ellen has been a great friend of farming and one of our few voices on the board,” said Watsonville nursery owner David Cavanaugh. “The farm bureau believes she knows the issues and involves us in the process as issues come up.”

The Second District is the county’s most diverse, running from touristy Capitola through upscale Aptos, Rio del Mar and La Selva Beach, and into a portion of Watsonville.

As far as farming goes, ag leaders described Young, who has never held office, as an unknown entity; Deitch is a one-issue candidate whose sole campaign platform is “anti-agriculture,” they said.

Deitch believes that farmers are overusing groundwater. He called for taking 8,000 acres of Pajaro Valley agricultural land out of production and preserving it as open space. The plan would cost 5,000 people their jobs and an estimated $150 million in lost revenue, he said.

At Wednesday’s forum, held at the Golden Ricksha restaurant, each time Deitch was asked a question on issues ranging from road repairs to the apple moth infestation, he would switch the subject to groundwater overdraft.

A similar platform did not land him too much support in past supervisor races in 1996 or 2000. He earned about 11 percent of the vote in 1996.

But Deitch said he is hardly discouraged by the farm bureau’s endorsement of Pirie.

“I congratulate Ellen and I assume this endorsement indicates that the agriculture community wants to continue to use 90 percent of our water for ag production at 200 percent overdraft, expropriating $400 million of our groundwater annually as they’ve done for the last 10 years, and continue to pay nothing for it,” Deitch said. “I hope for the future of the community that the voters want something done differently.”

Young takes a hard-line stance against growth and development. As the county faces more and more pressure to rezone land currently devoted to agriculture, some farmers said they liked his desire to preserve agriculture and keep the City of Watsonville’s growth in check.

Cavanaugh said he liked Pirie’s record, despite occasional disagreements with farmers over issues like funding for fire protection, road repairs and the current moratorium on roadside herbicide spraying.

“She regularly sends her aides to listen in on meetings of the bureau’s legislative committee,” he said. “I don’t remember (Supervisor) Tony Campos ever sending someone.”

Pirie has raised $20,858 for her campaign so far, according to the county elections office. Deitch and Young have not reported contributions. Deitch said his campaign is self-financed.

In addition to the farm bureau’s endorsement, Pirie earned the Democratic Women’s Club endorsement last week.

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*Photo by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 4/3/08 edition)

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