Oops! I did it again
I hate it when that happens.
For someone who’s never wrong, I’m wrong frequently, but I’ll
never get used to it..
Last week I wrote that there was only one candidate running for
the Board of Supervisors in District 1. And for a little while, I
was right.
Oops! I did it again
I hate it when that happens.
For someone who’s never wrong, I’m wrong frequently, but I’ll never get used to it..
Last week I wrote that there was only one candidate running for the Board of Supervisors in District 1. And for a little while, I was right.
Just to clear things up, between when I wrote what I wrote, the filing deadline and the publication date of last week’s Pinnacle, things changed.
For the record, there are no uncontested races for the Board of Supervisors in June’s election.
Grant Brians, who runs an organic produce business, Bonnie Flores, a partner in a graphic arts and printing firm in Hollister and longtime Hollister School District trustee Margie Barrios are all seeking to grab the seat occupied by Don Marcus for the last four years.
Marcus elected not to extend his brief political career, and that’s the source of all my confusion.
In a bit of legal complication, the law regarding candidacy for local office sets a deadline for filing. But in the event the incumbent does not file for re-election, other candidates get a few more days to make up their minds.
In the other two supervisorial seats being contested in June, incumbents Anthony Botelho and Jaime De La Cruz will face challengers Anthony Freitas and Marian Cruz (Anthony vs. Anthony and Cruz vs. De La Cruz, just to keep things confusing.).
So that bought everybody a little time, and it bought the staff at the county elections department some time as well.
The civics lesson continues.
Candidates for county office have the option of filing “in lieu” papers, or paying a pretty hefty filing fee to the county. In lieu papers trade signatures of registered voters for fees. Get enough signatures and candidacy is a bargain. Most candidates see it as not only a way to save cash for later in the race, but an opportunity to effectively launch a campaign at the beginning of the game.
But each signature needs to be checked by county staff to ensure that it belongs to a registered voter and to determine that the signature is on only one candidate’s papers. That can take a while. While the county elections staff – perhaps the most efficient corner of the county bureaucracy – was checking signatures, I was busy writing nonsense.
To clear it up, a few details: Flores and Brians are both successful entrepreneurs. Flores is building a campaign wrapped around increased economic opportunity and vitality in San Benito County. Brians has run before and his candidacy this time should offer few surprises. His ties to the land lead to a deep understanding of what makes San Benito County special, and a desire to nurture the growth of the agriculture industry and to market the area’s natural attractions.
Those of us who vote in District 5 are left with a monumental dilemma: three strong candidates for one seat. Will the race boil down to a referendum vote on plans for El Rancho San Benito, a city on the plains between Hollister and Gilroy? It’s probably too soon to tell.
With the county moving into a complete general plan revision, the next four years could well set the direction of life in San Benito for the next generation. It is a pivotal time.
So it’s particularly disconcerting, not that I screwed up – I’ve had lots of practice – but that my colossal blunder netted me calls from two people. The only people to call me out, and they both did so with commendable restraint and grace, were the two candidates I had ignored.
That should worry all of us.
It’s been said all politics is local. And local politics has more a direct bearing on our lives than any of the hot air emanating from Washington. While the blowhards by the Potomac are manufacturing controversy over flag burning or the second amendment or abortion rights (since I don’t intend to have one, I don’t really care), our neighbors who have the backbone to seek to represent us are making the tough decisions.
A plan to build a hotel in Tres Pinos drives a wedge through a community and earns new enemies for the Board of Supervisors. Every personnel decision is scrutinized and analyzed. Wild conspiracy theories sprout like mushrooms after a spring rain. It’s no wonder Marcus has had his fill.
Local voter turnout has gone from mediocre to abysmal in recent years. And there’s another old saw that sums it up better than I ever could.
We get exactly the kind of government we deserve.
