Oh boy! It’s election time
They can have Florida. They can have Wisconsin. Give ’em Texas.
Primaries schmimaries
– we’ve got front row seats to San Benito County politics.
Oh boy! It’s election time
They can have Florida. They can have Wisconsin. Give ’em Texas. Primaries schmimaries – we’ve got front row seats to San Benito County politics.
With the filing deadline for county offices looming on March 7, races for a majority of three seats on the five-member Board of Supervisors are shaping up. Or aren’t.
On one side of the county, nobody is officially running, while on another, candidates are getting in and getting out like a bunch of school kids doing the hokey pokey at 78 rpm.
On Jan. 28, San Juan Bautista-Aromas area incumbent Anthony Botelho sent an e-mail to dozens of people confirming his intention to run for a second term.
“It has been a privilege to [have] been able to have served my district and San Benito County in the capacity as supervisor these past three years,” Botelho wrote. “I look forward to 2008 with high expectations for many opportunities for the citizens of our community as well.”
Even without an opposing candidate, Botelho promised to run a modest campaign, to “try to meet with as many people in my district as I am able.”
As he wrote that, he may not have known a potential opponent was wrestling over the decision to run.
But former San Juan Bautista Councilman Chuck Geiger said Tuesday night that he could not afford a run at the office now. Geiger, a schoolteacher, is three years away from being fully vested in the state teachers’ pension plan, and besides, supervisors’ pay is far below his teaching salary. Says a lot about supervisors’ pay, doesn’t it?
People who know him know it will take a lot more than a bargain-basement paycheck to keep Geiger off the ballot in 2012. Geiger’s take-no-prisoners passion for San Benito County and his district in particular make him a more than likely candidate then.
Nothing’s moving in District 5. Incumbent Jaime De La Cruz will face Marian Cruz in June. To say the two are unrelated does not begin to tell the tale. Cruz – Marian – was an outspoken Hollister council member with progressive tendencies some years ago. Since then, she’s stayed busy as a tireless community volunteer and advocate. Oh yeah: she’s the wife of Bob Cruz, the incumbent De La Cruz narrowly displaced in 2004. De La Cruz grew up in his west Hollister district, and he understands it as well as anyone. His open love affair with developers and their contributions boils down to one thing: job development for his mostly working class district.
On to District 1. When one-term incumbent Don Marcus announced that he’d had enough of politics, there was practically a rush of air as people left the room headed for the courthouse.
It takes no less a person than Kim Hawk to keep all of this straight. Hawk’s worked in the elections division of the county clerk’s office for, let’s say, a few years.
Unlike the rest of the world, a phone call to just about anyone in local government is likely to get answered by the person sought.
So a call to Hawk actually produces Hawk. What’s up in District 1?
Early candidates were realtor-writer Nants Foley, businessman Don Kelley and retired CHP administrator Bob Davies. According to Hawk, none of them is still interested in the job.
Not to worry. Margie Barrios, a Hollister School District trustee, Marcie Huston, a business owner and former county water district board member, were the first to emerge. But they won’t be lonely. Bonnie Flores-Voropaeff, co-owner of a local graphic arts business pulled papers. She’s new to politics, but hardly new to community affairs.
Why is she running? “I believe I’m first of all a better candidate,” she said. “I’ve got better qualifications. And I care about this county. The county has not done anything to bring jobs and business into the county. Until you do that, you can just raise sales tax all you want. It won’t make any difference.” Flores was behind the “Buy Local” campaign that put posters in most local businesses windows a couple years ago.
Candidate No. 4 is Grant Brians, an organic farmer who has run in the district before. During his last run, some unfortunate domestic entanglements sidetracked his campaign, but that appears to be behind him. If Brians is anything, it’s honest. He’s got a history of speaking his mind and when it comes to environmental and growth issues, he’s an outspoken progressive.
What all this means is that in the two contested districts, voters are left with clear choices. June 3 could be the clearest indication yet of how county voters greet future land development.
Expect a lot of campaign money to get spread around between now and then.
