Possible candidates eyeing Efren Carrillo's Sonoma County supervisor seat

[Barry]

Possible candidates eyeing Efren Carrillo's Sonoma County supervisor seat

BY ANGELA HART

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
August 16, 2015, 8:31PM

The field of potential candidates who could seek the Sonoma County supervisor seat currently held by Efren Carrillo is growing more crowded as the deadline to formally declare nears, while pressure is building for supervisorial hopefuls to start building up their financial war chests.

But who decides to run — and when they publicly announce — rests heavily on a highly anticipated announcement from Carrillo, who has not said whether he plans to seek re-election to the 5th District seat he’s held since 2009.

Prior to his 2013 arrest on suspicion of burglary and prowling outside his female neighbor’s home, the two-term incumbent was seen as a rising political star in the Democratic Party, widely speculated as a strong candidate for higher public office. Carrillo was acquitted after state prosecutors charged him with peeking, but the incident has since overshadowed his political aspirations.

“I have not decided,” Carrillo said earlier this month when asked about his plans. The 34-year-old supervisor is engaged and expecting a child.

The June 2016 primary is 10 months away. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off in the November general election that year.

As Carrillo mulls his future plans, the number of people being floated who might jockey for the seat — which represents western Sonoma County and stretches from the lower Russian River area to the Mendocino County border — has reached double digits.

At least three west Sonoma County residents, none of whom has ever been elected to major public office, said they are considering a run.

They include Dennis Rosatti, a Sebastopol resident and executive director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the county’s most influential environmental organization; Tawny Tesconi, who was born and raised in west Santa Rosa and was recently appointed director of the county’s General Services Department; and Rue Furch, a former longtime Sonoma County planning commissioner and Sebastopol resident who ran for supervisor against Carrillo in 2008 and lost.

Another potential candidate is Noreen Evans, the former state senator who stepped down last year after a decade in the California Legislature.

Evans did not respond to multiple interview requests over the past two weeks. Whether she’d seek to represent the 5th District is unclear, but a future run could be problematic since she recently purchased a home in Rincon Valley, in the 1st District represented by Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Gorin.

If Evans chooses to run for Carrillo’s seat, she also could face scrutiny over her previous bid for supervisor in 2000, when she sought to represent the 3rd District, which encompasses most of Santa Rosa, and lost to then-incumbent Tim Smith.

March deadline

The filing deadline for candidates running for supervisor is in March. The two other supervisors up for re-election next year — Gorin and Shirlee Zane — already have launched their campaigns and begun raising money. Carrillo has not pulled papers for re-election or started raising money, campaign finance records show.

The political allegiances and ideological composition of the field of candidates vying to represent the 5th District — Sonoma County’s largest, encompassing the entirety of the county’s celebrated coastline — will largely be shaped by whether Carrillo and Evans decide to run.

“The 5th is the only game in town, partly because of the amount of uncertainty around it,” said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist. “And everyone is paying attention to this race because it sets forth the direction of the Board of Supervisors on so many key issues facing this county ... whoever wins could push the board majority to the left or to the right.”

McCuan said at present, the focal point is the possible political standoff between Carrillo and Evans.

“The question is can Carrillo rehabilitate his image, and is Noreen running?” McCuan said. “If she does, she becomes a formidable candidate, and if she doesn’t, she becomes an important king- or queenmaker.”

Potential candidates

Tesconi, Rosatti and Furch said they are thinking about running, but they have not made up their minds.

Continues here

[sambacat]

I'm thrilled to hear that Denny Rosatti is considering running for 5th District Supervisor! Denny is the current Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, an organization that has contributed invaluably to Sonoma County's treasured lands and vetting those running for political office on their environmental stance. I don't know him personally very well, but I have observed from his words and actions that he is a thoughtful, reasonable, practical and dedicated leader. He has a beautiful family and would be a fair, honest and extremely effective County Supervisor, who would reflect West County's values and goals. Yay Denny!!

...
At least three west Sonoma County residents, none of whom has ever been elected to major public office, said they are considering a run.

They include Dennis Rosatti, a Sebastopol resident and executive director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the county’s most influential environmental organization; Tawny Tesconi, who was born and raised in west Santa Rosa and was recently appointed director of the county’s General Services Department; and Rue Furch, a former longtime Sonoma County planning commissioner and Sebastopol resident who ran for supervisor against Carrillo in 2008 and lost.

Another potential candidate is Noreen Evans, the former state senator who stepped down last year after a decade in the California Legislature....

[beshiva]

I'm thrilled to hear that Denny Rosatti is considering running for 5th District Supervisor! Denny is the current Executive Director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, ...

i don't know Denny Rosatti and i realize quite a few will jump on the wagon to upset Carrillo's seat...but, i am going to throw into the mix i believe, anyone, who wants 5th District, i hope is Latino. I think Carrillo, unfortunately, failed the Latino community with his crazy stuff and it became a huge distraction, rendering him ineffective.

But, the Latino community Needs a good representative and i want to see a Latino activist run because they will understand and help with the unique needs of a community that has been so marginalized in this County...the beauty we see around us whether it be the bucolic vineyards, fine dining, tourist industry...was built on the backs of our Latino community.

let us not deny & ignore that fact!!