Ordinarily the tale of a 29-year-old running as a longshot candidate for mayor of the sixth largest city in the Tri-Counties would merit a passing mention on the newsmaker page.

But the city happens to be Santa Barbara. And Justin, J, J Michael, JMike or, more formally, Justin Michael (Slatkin) is not your run-of-the-mill 20-something.

He’s the son of Reed Slatkin, Earthlink founder and sadly the brains behind a nearly $600 million Ponzi scheme that ranked among the largest in history until Bernie Madoff came along. JMike, as he likes to be called, considers his candidacy part of his own personal quest to improve the family’s reputation.

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