By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Four Republican candidates — a county supervisor, a financial analyst, a city councilman and a former planning commissioner — are vying for the party’s nomination in the 33rd State Assembly District.

Each touts him or herself as the business candidate. Each promises to work to cut spending in Sacramento. And each continues to support drilling off the California coast, while pointing to Assembly Bill 32, the state global warming initiative, as a job killer.

The 33rd District encompasses all of San Luis Obispo County and the northwestern portion of Santa Barbara County, including Vandenberg Air Force Base and Guadalupe, Lompoc and Santa Maria. It is still reeling from the recession — Santa Maria had a whopping 15.9 percent unemployment rate in February, and San Luis Obispo County, which is largely supported by its public sector, has felt the state budget cut sting acutely. So whoever takes the seat vacated by Republican Sam Blakeslee is looking at a rough road.

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