Politics

With nearly 95 percent of votes in supervisor District 5 counted as of March 10, Bea Gonzales was on her way this week to a stunning upset of four-term incumbent and San Benito County Board of Supervisors Chair Jaime De la Cruz. Gonzales, a teacher,...

With hundreds of vote-by-mail ballot still uncounted as of 6:35 pm Friday, March 6, one San Benito County supervisor was assured of re-election, a four-term incumbent was staring at a possible upset loss and one November race was set. The lingering uncertainty in the supervisor...

Unofficial, incomplete returns tonight showed one incumbent San Benito County supervisor— Mark Medina in District 1—headed towards election with more than 60 percent of vote, and another— Jaime de La Cruz in District 5—hanging on to a razor-thin margin, according to the county Elections...

A citizens group that opposes commercial development of agricultural land submitted an initiative March 2 that would establish an urban growth boundary around the City of Hollister if approved by voters in November. Preserve Our Rural Communities, led by Aromas residents Andy and Mary Hsia-Coron...

The hotly contested races—and the incumbents—attracted the most contributions in San Benito County’s primary election campaigns, according to the latest reports filed with the Elections Office. Nearly $90,000 had been raised through Feb. 15 in the campaigns surrounding Measure K, a referendum on the commercial...

San Benito County voters can cast their Presidential Primary ballots this weekend at the county Elections Office, 9am-3pm Saturday and Sunday. The Elections Office, at 440 5th St., Hollister, has been open for early voting on weekdays 8am-5pm, since Feb. 3, and voting will continue...

Hollister Mayor Pro Tem Honor Spencer and Councilmember Marty Richman on Tuesday voted against censuring themselves for making threatening and obscene comments about colleague Rolan Resendiz in private and in public. The Feb. 18 vote came four weeks after the pair voted to censure Resendiz...

Hollister city council members arrived at Tuesday’s meeting ready for combat. Most of a standing-room-only crowd of 200 showed up to plead with their elected representatives for peace. As the council considered a proposal to formally censure Councilmember Rolan Resendiz for repeated negative social media posts,...

Hollister police are investigating what Mayor Ignacio Velazquez calls a “hate crime” against a council member by prominent local lobbyist and former mayor Victor Gomez. Velazquez announced the investigation in a written statement to the Free Lance before the Jan. 21 city council meeting and...

The public anger that led to the resignation of Hollister’s city manager candidate hasn’t subsided— it’s gone viral. In his Nov. 15 resignation letter, Interim City Manager Paul Eckert said he had been the victim of a “witch-hunt” and warned that he “will likely take...