Eps. 159 Maria Gutzeit

The Talk of Santa Clarita

Welcome to Episode 159 with guest Santa Clarita Valley Water Board Member, Maria Gutzeit. Maria Gutzeit has been on Water boards since 2003. First serving on the Newhall County Water District Board. Later she served as Board president and as a senior board member. An engineer by trade, Maria runs a Environmental Consulting company. A democrat, She is involved in politics for some time having run for city council in 2014 and briefly for congress in 2016. I think she would define herself politically as a moderate. She is a scientist and as a result, likes to balance her decisions with pragmatism and facts. She is also known to reach across the aisle often even though technically speaking a position on the water board is a non-partisan elected office. Yet Maria's philosophy has created a little ire from some local democrats because sometimes her votes do not match their personal idealogy. As a result, among some local Democratic activists, she is considered somewhat, shall we say controversial? I personally think that Maria does what she believes is right and political parties be damned. I don't always agree with her decisions but I respect her and her choices. I met with Maria on an early Sunday morning. We talked mostly about the SCV Water board, but also about her love of cycling, and the political climate for her in this Valley. She is a super serious person and I have still yet to get the one thing I want the most from her....a joke.