Sonny Flores to oppose two-term Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz in
2012
Sonny Flores to oppose two-term Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz in 2012
Sonny Flores, the current board president for the San Benito County Water District, has pulled papers from the elections office indicating intentions to run against incumbent Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz for his District 5 seat.
De La Cruz is seeking his third, four-year term on the board of supervisors. He also has pulled papers indicating he will run again in 2012 for the seat paying about $40,000 annually, plus benefits.
District 5 includes northeast Hollister, north of South Street and west to Memorial Drive.
Flores started in his water district role in November 2004, the same year De La Cruz joined the board of supervisors.
Flores noted that he has varying experience working with budgets and that he is a proponent for affordable housing. Flores currently works for Community Services Development Corp., largely on property management and maintenance supervision, while he has worked in retail management as well.
“The reason I’m running – as we all know, the county’s in one of the worst economic conditions we’ve seen in years,” said Flores, who went on to say De La Cruz “has been there seven years and has failed to improve the county.”
As for Flores’ decision to challenge for the seat, De La Cruz simply said that this is a “democratic process and everybody is entitled to run.”
De La Cruz has started his campaigning and has been talking to voters about his record, he said. De La Cruz, who works full time as a controller for West Coast Rubber Recycling, pointed to his support for parks and street lighting, along with projects such as the Santana Ranch development and the Panoche Valley solar farm.
“We’re just going to continue to go door to door and talk to the voters,” De La Cruz said.
Two other county board seats are up in 2012. Supervisors Margie Barrios and Anthony Botelho both are running for reelection, while nobody has stepped forward to oppose them.
