Ray Watson (broadcaster)

Watson was elected to the county Board of Supervisors in November 2002 to represent the 4th District after Supervisor Ken Peterson died in office. He was reelected in 2004.[1]

He was elected to a third term in June 2008. He was accused by his opponent, Cliff Thompson, of "playing dirty backroom games" during the campaign. The latter claimed that Watson had told Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall, owner of an ambulance service, to move Hall's public relations man off Thompson's campaign team. Watson denied the charge. Watson had 11,064 votes to Thompson's 8,005. Thompson was endorsed by State Senator Dean Florez and public employee unions.[6][7][8]

In 2010, Watson was named chairman of the board by his fellow supervisors for a one-year term.[9]

The 4th District covers the rural, western part of the county, and in 2010 it included the towns of Lost Hills, Wasco, Buttonwillow, McKittrick, Tupman, Taft, Maricopa, Pine Mountain Club, Lebec and Frazier Park.[10]

State powers, 2003

Watson strongly criticized State Senator Dean Florez for introducing a bill that would have banned all dairies within three miles of any school or urban area, to improve air quality. Watson said he wanted "customized buffers around cities that could be closer than three miles in some places and farther in others." He also stated that it was "a local planning issue and it should remain so. Kern County should not allow the state to usurp the authority of local governments to establish land use policies."[11]

Public safety, 2008

Residents of Pine Mountain Club were "angered by Watson's opposition to the county paying for a permanent ambulance or firefighter paramedics in their small town in the mountains above Frazier Park."[12]

Oil tax, 2010

Watson declared his opposition to a bill in the State Assembly by Fremont Democrat Alberto Torrico to impose a 12.5 percent severance tax on oil production. "This tax is aimed right at the heart of our economy," he said. He predicted the tax would result in the loss of 7,000 oil industry-related jobs and millions of dollars in unrealized tax receipts.[13] Kern County produced 60 percent of the state's oil in 2010.[14]

Maricopa annexation, 2011

He declared himself open to the county's taking over the city of Maricopa in the event it would be disincorporated. "It's sad," he said. "When you drive down the street almost all the businesses are boarded up. It could be a quaint little place, but investors would want to know that the city was going to be liquid and provide necessary services."[15]

State prisoners, 2011

Watson said he was encouraged by a plan to retain state prisoners in county jails beginning October 1, 2011. He said he especially liked Kern County's plan to confine the prisoners to their homes with electronic monitoring and the creation of fire camps to train them as firefighters.[16]

High-speed rail, 2012

He was one of two supervisors who voted against a successful supervisorial resolution opposing a proposed high-speed rail project through the Central Valley ""in its current form." He said he had been "involved with California's high-speed rail plan for 20 years" and believed it was needed for the "long-term health of the state."[17]

Watson was accused by The Californian newspaper in 2008 of having an "ivory tower style, which leaves many constituents, especially those living in outlying communities, feeling abandoned." To charges like these, of being a "drive-by supervisor," Watson responded that it was more efficient to schedule meetings back-to-back in his office than to spend time driving.[18]