LAKEPORT, Calif. – With numerous local offices coming up for election this year, candidates are filing the required paperwork and fields are forming across several races.
As of Friday, candidates or incumbents had filed paperwork in the races for assessor-recorder, county clerk-auditor, district attorney, sheriff-coroner, superintendent of schools, District 2 and 3 county supervisor, and treasurer-tax collector, as well as for the three Lake County Superior Court judicial seats that are up for election, according to the Registrar of Voters Office.
The registrar’s office said that so far five county incumbents have filed and are unopposed: Assessor-Recorder Richard Ford, County Clerk-Auditor Cathy Saderlund, Sheriff-Coroner Brian Martin, Superintendent of Schools Brock Falkenberg and Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen.
For the office of district attorney, local attorney Steven Brown and Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones have joined the race so far, according to campaign documents. Current District Attorney Don Anderson intends to run for a judge’s seat rather than seek a third term.
For the District 2 supervisorial race, incumbent Jeff Smith has announced his plans not to seek reelection. So far, the only candidate to file paperwork is Bruno Sabatier, the city of Clearlake’s mayor.
In the District 3 supervisorial race, one-term incumbent Jim Steele has filed paperwork, and has two challengers: Eddie J. Crandell, the tribal chair of Robinson Rancheria and the District 3 county planning commissioner, and businesswoman and former Clearlake Mayor Denise Loustalot.
All of the candidates have filed Form 501 paperwork, which allows them to begin to take contributions. As of Friday, with the exception of Loustalot, all of them also had taken out in-lieu petitions to collect signatures to reduce filing fees.
In the judicial races, Judge Michael Lunas and Judge Andrew Blum have both signaled their intentions to seek reelection by taking out papers.
Judge Stephen Hedstrom will not seek reelection, and so the race for his seat is forming. District Attorney Don Anderson and Deputy County Counsel Shanda Harry have both joined the race to succeed him, the Registrar of Voters Office reported.
In addition to filing in-lieu petitions and Form 501s, judicial races require an extra step of filing a declaration of intention from Jan. 29 to Feb. 7, unless no incumbent has filed, in which case the filing period is extended to between Feb. 8 and 12, according to the local election calendar.
The fourth seat on the Lake County Superior Court bench will not be back on the ballot until 2020; last month, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed J. David Markham to succeed Judge Richard Martin, who retired in May, as Lake County News has reported.
The Registrar of Voters Office reported that it’s still early in the season for candidates.
The period to submit an in-lieu filing fee petition began Dec. 14 and ends Feb. 7.
The nomination period for all candidates, in which they must file their declaration of candidacy forms and nomination papers is from Feb. 12 to March 9, unless no incumbent files in a race, in which case the period is extended from March 10 to March 14.
All of the winning candidates in this year’s races will take office on Jan. 7, 2019, and be sworn the following day, the Registrar of Voters Office reported.
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Fields begin to form in local political races
- Elizabeth Larson
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