Efren Carrillo appointed chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
ANGELA HART
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | January 5, 2016, 9:25PM
Supervisor Efren Carrillo on Tuesday was appointed by his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to the most influential post in Sonoma County government, taking over as board chairman for Susan Gorin, who served in the rotating position for the past year.
Carrillo, a two-term 34-year-old supervisor, immediately laid out his policy goals for the county in the coming year, but he did not make clear whether he intends to enter the race to retain his seat representing west county.
In his first remarks from the dais, Carrillo sought to bring renewed attention and funding to several high-profile county initiatives underway, including construction of new affordable housing, launch of a local universal preschool program, advancing annexation of Roseland and implementing recommendations from the Community and Local Law Enforcement Task Force, set up in the aftermath of the 2013 shooting death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez.
“This is an exciting year,” Carrillo said after taking over the gavel. “It is humbling to have the trust and support of this board.”
Carrillo’s ongoing silence about his future in elected county office has been acknowledged by both his supporters and detractors, some of whom were in the audience Tuesday morning.
“We’re paying very close attention to that race. ... It’s going to be the most-high profile and most highly contested,” said Daniel Sanchez, director of government affairs for the North Bay Association of Realtors, a business advocacy group that endorsed Carrillo in 2008 and 2012. “Whoever takes the seat is going to determine the balance of power on the Board of Supervisors.”
The filing deadline for candidates entering the June primary is in March. A field of contenders has begun taking shape for the west county seat, and the two other supervisors up for re-election, Gorin and Shirlee Zane, have already launched their campaigns and started raising money.
Carrillo has not hired a campaign manager, launched any fundraising push or undertaken any other activities that would signal he intends to run.
But that inaction should not suggest he has bowed out of the race, Carrillo said in an interview Tuesday. He again declined to reveal his plans, while arguing that it is not too late to mount a campaign.
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The only person who has officially entered the race for Carrillo’s 5th District seat is Lynda Hopkins, a Forestville resident and independent farmer.
Also considering a run are Noreen Evans, the former state legislator who last month moved to Sebastopol — and into the 5th District — from her Rincon Valley home; Eric Koenigshofer, an Occidental attorney and one of Carrillo’s closest advisers who represented the same district on the Board of Supervisors 35 years ago; Tawny Tesconi, a native of west Santa Rosa who, until Dec. 31, was director of the county’s General Services Department; Dennis Rosatti, executive director of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the area’s largest environmental organization; and Rue Furch, a former county planning commissioner who lost to Carrillo in 2008.
Tesconi resigned from her county position last month, according to County Administrator Veronica Ferguson. An email from Tesconi indicated her last day was Dec. 31.
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