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You can take the boy out of Santa Clarita but you can’t take the Santa Clarita out of the boy. It’s been a year since I relocated to arguably one of the most beautiful places on Earth: Crescent City, California; but it’s not so easy breaking ties with your former home of three decades. I have family and lots of friends in the SCV..and yes, I have my politics.

One of my passions is College of the Canyons. For 15 years I was the voice of Cougar football and men’s basketball. I bleed blue. I remain in awe of this magnificent community college, President Diane G. Van Hook and the Board of Trustees: Michele Jenkins, Michael Berger, Joan MacGregor, and my friend Bruce Fortine. The administration of COC is without compare the best in the country. How the Board has performed in this era of austere, skeletal budgets is nothing short of phenomenal.

But I am disturbed by one of the newbies on the Board, Scott Wilk. He apparently is using College of the Canyons as a spring board to further his own political career. Recently, Wilk announced he would seek another term on the Board of Trustees. Within moments, he also announced he was going to seek the vacated and termed-out Cameron Smyth 38th District Assembly seat, next year.

This apparent “double-dip” announcement by lobbyist Wilk to forward his career is blatantly transparent and absolutely wrong. Which one is it? Does Scott Wilk want to serve on the Board or does he want to keep his name in the mix to run for 38th Assembly seat? I am dismayed that Trustee Wilk is not invested in my College of the Canyons. If he is successful, retains his Board seat, then runs for the Assembly and is similarly successful, who is hurt? You good folks in the SCV would be the victims. The Board, in its wisdom, would appoint a new member to fill the unexpired term if Wilk moves on. That does not seem fair to the Santa Clarita voter who invested his or her vote in a candidate who has every intention of moving on. College of the Canyons should not be the unwitting pawn in this obvious power grab. Mr. Wilk needs to make a commitment to one position and stop playing politics for his own personal gain.

I am also confused that Buck McKeon’s wife, Patricia announced she would also be a candidate for the 38th seat. I think the world of Patrician McKean but what are her qualifications to serve other than she is married to one of the most powerful men in Congress? No, Patrician McKeon, I say stay by your husband’s side; support him, as he fights the scourge of the radical Left, in Congress. Rational minds are starting to prevail. Patricia McKeon you are needed in Washington, DC, not in Sacramento.

The candidate I can support is someone who has just announced. I have known him for two decades. Ten year William S. Hart Board member Paul Strickland announced his intention to run for the open seat. Paul is Cameron Smyth’s chief deputy for the SCV and he would be an outstanding choice for the 38th seat. Paul has been a strong voice for the conservative as he sits on the Hart Board.

Who knows? I may just move back to the SCV for a while, re-register and vote for Paul Strickland, myself.

Roger Gitlin is a retired teacher and member of the National and Del Norte Tea Party. He also founded the Santa Clarita Valley Independent minutemen. He lives in Crescent City, California and can be reached at [email protected]. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.