(November 20)  In San Bernardino County, candidates for public office have spent an astounding amount of money to get elected.
In 2006, for example, then-First District Supervisor Bill Postmus spent $3.2 million in his successful effort to unseat the then-incumbent county assessor, Don Williamson. In the last decade, the cost of campaigning for office has escalated dramatically. In serious contests for county supervisor, even losers have spent as much as a quarter of a million dollars.
Indeed, holding public office in San Bernardino County, as elsewhere, has become highly prized. Candidates, to get elected to a single four-year term, will expend, through their electoral committees, on the order of ten times or more what they can realize in salary for even the highest-paying of the posts up for a vote. And as an examination of the electioneering materials put out by many of those candidates demonstrates, there is no depth an ambitious seeker of office will not go to in maligning his or her opponent, no questionable tactic he or she will not explore, no departure from decorum he or she will not exploit in the effort to convince his or her constituents he or she should be selected to lead the community.
Paradoxically, however, some elected positions do not attract enough contenders to make a race of it, and by merely filing for the post, an individual can fill it. In other cases, there is no interest in the position at all and no one was on the ballot when those posts came up for a vote.
Because an insufficient number of candidates competed for 19 positions up for election at various districts or governmental entities around the county, San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello this week induced the board of supervisors to simply appoint those candidates who ran unopposed. He also convinced the board to appoint 18 others to board positions on six bodies after no candidates sought election to those positions.
In the Baker Community Services District where there was an election for three open seats, only three candidates entered the race. In the Barstow Heights Community Services District, one individual sought election for three board positions. In the Crestline Village Water District four sought election to four open positions on the board. In the Daggett Community Services District three candidates vied for three positions. In the Juniper-Riviera County Water District, two board positions were up for election and that race attracted only two candidates. Three candidates ran for three positions on the Rim of the World Recreation and Park District. In the race for three board positions in the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation, just three candidates sought election. In those cases, Scarpello called upon the board of supervisors to “appoint candidates, in lieu of election, to fill contest vacancies.” His request, he said applied to both the “August 27, 2013 Consolidated Mail Ballot Election and the November 5, 2013 Consolidated Election, whereby these contests are under the jurisdiction of the board of supervisors.”
Under the election code, Scarpello said, the board of supervisors has the authority and duty to “make appointments to contests under its jurisdiction where the number of persons filing a declaration of candidacy for various offices was either equal to or fewer than the number of positions to be filled for those respective offices (unopposed), and where no person filed a declaration of candidacy for office. California Elections Code §10515 provides that the registrar of voters shall request that the supervising authority (board of supervisors for these two elections) make these appointments, and do so at a meeting held prior to the Monday before the first Friday in December.”
Accordingly, Scarpello called upon the board to appoint Kenneth E. Hall, Jessie Jenkins and Rich Johnson to the Baker Community Services District for 4 year terms; Robert M. Stapp to the Barstow Heights Community Services District Board of Directors for a 4 year term; Alan E. Clanin, Darel Davis and Steven Farrell to 4-year terms on the Crestline Village Water District Board;  Bruce D. Risher to a 4-year term on the Crestline-Lake Arrowhead Water Agency Board of Directors; Joseph Morris Jr, and  Sally Vintus to 4-year terms and Mark Staggs to a 2-year term on the Daggett Community Services District Board; Eric L. Koester and Susan J. Mulvaney to 4-year terms on the Juniper-Riviera County Water District Board of Directors;
Richard Lavin, Dave Roughton and Carol Tesley to 4-year terms on the Rim of the World Recreation and Park
District Board; and Melody A. Henriques McDonald, John Longville and David E. Raley to 4-year terms on the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District Board of Directors.
Since Robert Stapp was the only candidate in the Barstow Heights Community Services District Board race and three positions were up for election, Daryl Schendel was appointed to a 4-year term on that body and a 2-year term was conferred upon Jeanette Hayhurst.
In five other board races, those for positions with the Apple Valley Foothill County Water District, the Apple Valley heights Water District, the Running Springs Water District, the Thunderbird County Water District and the Yucca Valley Airport District, no candidates showed an interest in running before the end of the filing period. As such Scarpello asked the board of supervisors to appoint volunteers to those board positions who were recruited by his office or staff members of the board of supervisors in whose districts those jurisdictions lie.
In this way, Karen Madison, Sam Kell, and James A. Thompson, Jr. were appointed to 4-year terms on the Apple Valley Foothill County Water District Board of Directors and Sharon Silva-Houts was appointed to a 2-year term on the Apple Valley Foothill County Water District Board; Larry Hunter, Jacob S. Johnson and Patricia Duwel were appointed to 4-year term on the Apple Valley Heights Water District Board of Directors; Kenneth Ayers, Henry M. Heredia and Pam Bennett were appointed to 4-year terms on the Running Springs Water District Board; Lynn A. Lindberg  and Betty L. Kreml were appointed to 4-year term on the Thunderbird County Water District Board and Victoria Stemen was given a 2-year berth on the Thunderbird County Water District Board; and Robert R. Dunn, Robert A Miehle and Michael C. Huhn were appointed to 4-year terms on the Yucca Valley Airport District Board of Directors.