No election race in San Benito County pits two more distinctive
adversaries against one another than the District 2 campaign for
supervisor. Incumbent Reb Monaco and challenger Tracie Cone present
voters with two extremely competent choices.
No election race in San Benito County pits two more distinctive adversaries against one another than the District 2 campaign for supervisor. Incumbent Reb Monaco and challenger Tracie Cone present voters with two extremely competent choices.
The Free Lance endorsed Monaco for the June primary, and does so again now. Monaco has served his constituency well and should be rewarded with the opportunity to continue and expand his efforts. If not a vocal leader on the board, he has been effective at building consensus, as evidenced by his part in helping create a countywide parks commission. He put in hard work in helping to revise the county’s general plan. He also voted to pass a resolution stating opposition to Measure S.
Monaco faces a worthy opponent. Cone has been an astute chronicler of county politics. She is a savvy communicator. She ran a successful business, the Pinnacle newspaper, from 1999 to 2004. In a county such as ours the transition from newspaper publisher and editor to local politics is a natural one.
Cone is not to be underestimated. She is an effective challenger who offers voters in the district a distinct choice from her opponent. While Monaco speaks at debates and forums in calm, measured tones and has been careful, perhaps too much so, in edging toward criticism of his opponent, Cone is demonstrative and mercurial, filling her speeches with as much information as she can deliver to listeners.
Cone has not been reticent to criticize Monaco. “I’m not sure what he stands for, because I don’t know what he’s done,” she said at one forum. “And I’ve followed the Board of Supervisors closely.”
We, however, support Monaco’s measured approach. He possesses an understanding of county government and a track record of bringing agencies in the county and city together to create viable solutions. He has remained professional in demeanor no matter the circumstance or the attack.
How voters will react to such disparate approaches and voices remains to be seen. This race offers the most intriguing choices of any candidate race on the local ballot. Voters are fortunate to mull a decision between two candidates who offer a stark choice in representation.
How that choice will play out will be interesting. In the June primary a third challenger, John Hodges, received 36 percent of the vote. How those votes become redistributed will say a lot about who wins on Tuesday.
Regardless, we endorse Monaco against an effective opponent. Both have a vision for how they would like to see the county progress into the future. We believe Monaco’s vision should be allowed to develop.
