County Supervisor Race Heating Up

There are three supervisorial races in Sonoma County on Tuesday's primary election ballot, but the attention has focused on the six candidates running for the 1st District seat now held by Supervisor Valerie Brown, who
is retiring.

The boundaries of the 1st District, traditionally represented by a Sonoma Valley resident, were redrawn last year and now include areas of eastern Santa Rosa such as Bennett and Rincon valleys and Oakmont.

Santa Rosa Councilwoman Susan Gorin and Santa Rosa Vice Mayor John Sawyer are running for the seat.

The other candidates are Sonoma Mayor Joanne Sanders, communications business owner Gina Cuclis, and energy efficiency engineer Mark Bramfitt, all of Sonoma; and Glen Ellen resident Michael McClure.

Cuclis, McClure and Bramfitt are highlighting their long-term residence in the Sonoma Valley, and Sanders her seven years on the Sonoma City Council and her family's local staffing service.

Sanders says that under her leadership, crime has been reduced, and open space and bicycle lanes have increased. She said Sonoma's roads have been maintained and its pension costs reduced.

Cuclis says she is the only candidate who has lived full-time in the Sonoma Valley for 25 years. She has served 14 years on local government boards in Sonoma Valley. Her supporters include former Sonoma County District Attorney Mike Mullins and four former Sonoma mayors.

Bramfitt is a 23-year Sonoma Valley resident. He says he is aware the Sonoma Valley depends on the Board of Supervisors to complete the Highway 12 improvement project, maintain local streets, provide police protection by the county sheriff's office and protect the Sonoma Valley from unwise development.

McClure has lived in the 1st District for 39 years. He has been a teacher at the Sonoma Development Center for 33 years and pledges to promote a health business climate find solutions to the county's budget crisis and poor road system.

Gorin, a 30-year resident of Sonoma County is asking the district's voters to work together with the county for a healthy economy and environment. She claims the support of retiring Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, state Sen. Noreen Evans, Sonoma Councilman Steve Barbose, and Sonoma Valley school board member Helen Marsh.

Sawyer says he is "deeply committed" to residents of the 1st District. He says he will balance the budget, and protect agriculture and the environment.

Brown, a Sonoma Valley resident who has held the seat since August 2002 and represented the area in the state Assembly before that, has endorsed Bramfitt.

Should none of the five candidates receive 50 percent of the vote plus one vote, the two candidates garnering the most votes will run against each other in the November election.

The candidates have cited pension reform, road maintenance and repair, job creation and fiscal responsibility as the key issues in the election.

In the other two supervisorial races, Supervisor Shirlee Zane is running for re-election for the 3rd District seat against Rohnert Park businessman and former City Councilman Tim Smith. The district includes central Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park.

Zane cites her work in drafting a pension reform plan, the creation of a mental health crisis mobile unit to support law enforcement during 911 calls, support for the SMART commuter train between Marin and Sonoma counties and support for the county's Energy Independence Program among her achievements.

Smith has criticized the $1 billion in unfunded pension and other retiree liabilities that county taxpayers face. He has offered to reduce his compensation by 20 percent and to opt out of the county pension system to support public safety, parks, public health and roads expenditures.

In the west county 5th District, which includes the Sonoma Coast, Russian River area, Sebastopol, and west and southwest Santa Rosa, Supervisor Efren Carrillo is running for re-election against former supervisor and government consultant Ernest Carpenter and business owner Veronica Jacobi.

There will be a runoff in November involving the top two vote-getters if none of the three candidates receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

Carrillo cites his support for preservation of the 5,600-acre Jenner Headlands on the Sonoma Coast, the Vista Family Health Center and the Energy Independence Program as his accomplishments during his first term as the county's first Latino supervisor.

Jacobi cites job creation, pension reform, improving roads and public transportation, increasing affordable housing and reducing crime as her goals.

Carpenter, who served 16 years on the Board of Supervisors, has called for the end of converting forests to vineyards, fixing west county roads, support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, fair pension reform and decriminalizing marijuana as his goals.

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