Politics

Barring a miracle, incumbent District 1 Supervisor Margie Barrios has squeaked by a challenger who campaigned on a message that county leaders have not done enough to reduce the size of government.

On Tuesday, the Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, survived the much-watched recall election initiated by the state’s public employees. Closer to home the City of San Jose overwhelmingly approved pension reform, Measure B, that gives current city workers "the option of switching to a lower pension or staying in the current plan and paying off pension debt with annual contribution increases" - the city was sued immediately thereafter. While many voters, including me, support serious public pension reform, it is a mistake to blame the entire problem on the unions; doing so would let the other actors - the employees, the elected officials, and ultimately the public - off the hook.

This installment of Public Comment is from Tuesday's San Benito County board meeting. Hear residents' views at left on questions over work being done on Shore Road and thoughts on a state proposal regarding off-road vehicle facility funds.

Four people in San Benito County voted for a nut-farming former TV star to be the next president of the United States.

Two incumbent county supervisors are cruising to victory after Tuesday’s election, while a third is holding onto a 41-vote lead and will likely earn a second term on the board.

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved an increase in fees collected by the public works department for engineering services and development processing as well as park facility rentals.

The San Benito County board of supervisors added an emergency item to the agenda Tuesday to approve out-of-state travel for Supervisor Jerry Muenzer.

The votes are essentially all counted for the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and the incumbents all held serve, although each race appears to have a different message. Here is what we learned from Tuesday's races: 

A study on widening Highway 152 and installing a toll road as well as an attempt to approve minutes of a meeting that never happened have drawn the ire of Mayor Mike Villalta.

Based on preliminary numbers reported by the San Benito County Elections office website as of midnight on Tuesday, Supervisors Jaime De La Cruz and Anthony Botelho had significant leads against their opponents while Margie Barrios had a nearly 3 percent lead over her opponent.