(August 10) It now appears that Ray Musser will face three challengers in this year’s mayoral race in Upland.
His challengers include two of his current council colleagues, Gino Filippi and Debbie Stone. Also in the contest is Hal Tanner, a former prison warden who in recent years has been critical of the Upland City Council with regard to adherence to open meeting and disclosure regulations.
Musser was first elected to the city council in 1998. For years he was the sole political opposition on the council to former mayor John Pomierski, who was indicted by a federal grand jury last year and pleaded guilty to bribery early this year. Musser unsuccessfully opposed Pomierski for reelection in 2004 and 2008, but was selected by his council colleagues to succeed Pomierski following his resignation just before his indictment last year.
Filippi, the first of Musser’s opponents to declare his mayor candidacy earlier this year, was first elected to the council in 2010. Stone was elected to complete Musser’s term as councilman in a special election last year after Musser vacated his council position to become mayor.
As of press time Thursday, only Musser had returned his filing papers to qualify his candidacy. The other three had pulled nomination papers, but had not yet returned them. The deadline for doing so is noon today, Friday, August 10.