San Bernardino County will once again see an array of hard-fought contests on the primary ballot in both parties, as well as for a non-partisan county post.  The non-partisan post of which I speak is the race for county assessor.  We previously reported on these pages incumbent Assessor Don Williamson’s intention to retire in the wake of Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus’ (pictured left) announcement for the post.  However, at the close of filing Friday, the situation changed as the incumbent Williamson filed for reelection.  In this race, Williamson (who has almost no money) has serious problems.  (Full disclosure: I’m Postmus’ chief of staff.)  San Bernardino County taxpayers had to pay $65,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a county employee who repeatedly had to rebuff Williamson’s advances.  The San Bernardino County Sun newspaper once said Williamson "long ago carried politics to a new level of buffoonery," and that Williamson "does not possess the level of professionalism needed to make him well-suited to the office."  Postmus, who’s also Chairman of the County Republican Party and already has the Party’s endorsement, will have a war chest approaching a million dollars…

CONGRESS:  No real shockers.  Republican incumbents Jerry Lewis, Buck McKeon and Gary Miller face no primary opposition and only token opposition in November from Democrat nominees.  Perhaps surprising in the 26th Congressional District, incumbent Representative David Dreier secured the endorsement of the California Republican Assembly.  In 2004, the CRA endorsed Sonny Sardo against Dreier.  Sardo attracted only 16% of the vote in that year’s GOP primary.  Dreier, who was thought to have been facing mounting conservative discord regarding aspects of his record on immigration, seems to have been rewarded for his work this term where he took tougher stances against illegal immigration and came out against the Dubai Ports deal.  Certainly, Dreier’s strong support of Assemblymember Ray Haynes’ proposed California Border Police initiative didn’t hurt either.  The support from the CRA — which may signify that Dreier is shoring up his right flank — perhaps positions him as the frontrunner in both June and November.

Not so fortunate is Dreier’s would-be Democrat opponent, magazine magnate Russ Warner, who now must contend with 2004’s Democrat Party nominee Cynthia Matthews in June.  Matthews, who spent little money two years ago, captured her party’s nomination and then went on to hold Dreier to 53% of the total vote in November.  She’s back again, and now Warner will have to devote resources in a contested primary fight.  This means that should Warner prevail, he’ll have to do so by spending a sizable chunk of his war chest today — funds which he had planned to use attacking Dreier.  All in all, a great weekend for David Dreier…
 
43rd District Congressman Joe Baca will be challenged on the GOP side by Scott Folkens, a schoolteacher from Bloomington.

SENATE:  Speaking of Baca, this brings us to the battle for the heavily Democrat 32nd State Senate seat, where incumbent Nell Soto is retiring, sort of (she’s termed-out of the Senate, so it’s back to the Assembly).  61st District Democratic Assemblymember Gloria Negrete-McLeod will be dueling with 62nd District Democrat Joe Baca Jr. to replace Soto in the Senate.  Negrete-McLeod has Parke Skelton handling her consulting and Baca Jr. has Richie Ross.  The winner will face Republican Victor Edinburgh, who faces no primary opposition.

ASSEMBLY: Running to replace Baca Jr. in the 62nd AD is the incumbent’s younger brother, Jeremy.  Jeremy Baca faces former Congressional staffer Wilma Carter in a Democratic Primary.   The winner will face Republican Marge Mendoza-Ware, who was recently re-elected as a trustee on a local school district board.

The hot Republican primaries are for the open 59th (Mountjoy) and the 65th (Bogh).  One candidate for the 65th not previously receiving much mention is Yucca Valley Mayor Paul Cook, a retired U.S. Marine Colonel who recently secured the endorsement of San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus.  Mr. Cook, with campaign consultant Tab Berg and fundraising consultant Mike Fresquez on board, seems to be beginning to build momentum… Among Republican incumbents, there’s the primary challenge to Assemblywoman Sharon Runner in the 36th District, which was previously reported by Mike Spence.  Read it here.  Other Republicans incumbents, including Bob Huff, Bill Emmerson and Bill Maze, face no GOP challengers and are all safe bets to win re-election in November.  In the 61st AD, Senator Nell Soto faces local school board member Paul Avila in a Democrat primary.  The winner will face longtime Republican Party activist Ben Lopez in November.

LOCAL RACES:  Finally, in all but one countywide non-partisan contest (District Attorney, Sheriff, Treasurer, School Superintendent), incumbents are standing for re-election with no opposition.  The exception is Assessor Don Williamson, mentioned above, who will have his clock cleaned by Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Postmus. 

First-term Second District Supervisor Paul Biane has a free ride and Supervisor Gary Ovitt drew no real threat in his opponent, a marijuana advocate who has pledged to raise no money.

Contributor’s note: Thanks to Adam Aleman, Executive Director of the San Bernardino County Republican Party, who contributed to this report.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 13th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.