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Thompson, first elected in 1998, represents the First Congressional District, which includes Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Humboldt and Del Norte counties, and portions of Yolo and Sonoma counties.
One of the biggest fundraisers among the California congressional delegation, Thompson was elected to his sixth term over challengers Zane Starkewolf, a Republican from Davis, and Green Party candidate Carol Wolman of Mendocino County.
Thompson's margin of victory this time around was decisive, as it has been in previous elections.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen's office reported that Thompson received 143,513 votes, or 68.2 percent of the vote, with 94.7 percent of precincts reporting shortly before 3 a.m. Wednesday. Starkewolf received 49,798 votes (23.6 percent), and Wolman took 17,272 votes (8.2 percent).
In Lake County, Thompson received 13,397 votes, or 66.2 percent of the vote. Starkewolf received 5,328 votes, or 26.3 percent, and Wolman had 1,508 votes, representing 7.5 percent.
Districtwide, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Chesbro received 106,766 votes, or 70.5 percent of the vote, topping rival Jim Pell, who took 44,822, or 29.5 percent. In Lake County the margin was 12,866 votes (64.7 percent) for Chesbro, 7,028 votes (35.3 percent) for Pell.
Thompson thanked First District voters “for putting their faith in me once again to be their voice in Washington.”
During a visit to Lake County late last month Thompson predicted Sen. Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States, and he heralded Obama's victory Tuesday.
“I look forward to working with President-elect Obama to rebuild our economy, end the war in Iraq, reform health care, and put in place sustainable, affordable energy policies,” Thompson said in a written statement.
"Today we affirmed the strength of our democracy by voting for leadership based on the power of ideas, rather than the power of fear,” Thompson said. “In record numbers, Americans made history and created a better future for our great nation.
"Our country's strength also comes from our diversity, and today we have made our country stronger by putting Barack Obama in the White House,” Thompson continued. “He has the tools to be one of our greatest presidents, and in the face of such enormous challenges his vision and leadership will help bring the change our country so desperately needs and wants.”
During his Oct. 23 visit to Lake County, Thompson met in Lucerne with local chapters of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.
Thompson said at the time that health care is now on the top of everyone's agenda in Washington.
“We're going to get into health care reform in a big way in January,” he said.
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The Middletown Unified School District Board of Trustees had two seats available, which went to William Wright, with 1,365 votes (26.8 percent) and Sandy Tucker, 1,117 votes (21.9 percent), according to the Lake County Registrar of Voters Office.
Runners-up were Jean Rudy-Goulart, 965 votes (18.9 percent); Kim Bladel, 937 votes (18.4 percent); and David Riccio, 709 votes (13.9 percent).
In that district, voter turnout was 64.8 percent, according to the Registrar of Voters Office.
Comparatively, voter turnout for the Konocti Unified School District Board race was at 54.9 percent.
In that district, Mary Silva won reelection decisively, with 3,071 votes, or 35.7 percent of the vote. Also reelected Tuesday was Hank Montgomery, with 1,917 votes (22.3 percent). Runners up were Gigi Mattos, 1,833 votes (21.3 percent) and Lynda Davis Robinson, 1,774 votes (20.6 percent).
In the race for Yuba Community College Trustee, Benjamin Pearson took 4,070 votes (52 percent) over Mark Bredit's 3,751 votes (48 percent).
South Lake County Fire's Measure B was passed with a 73 percent to 27 percent vote (2,886 votes to 1,067, respectively).
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Robert Wayne Wiley, 75, is set to go on trial on Jan. 27, 2009, on two counts of possessing child pornography, according to Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg. The trial date was set at an Oct. 29 court appearance.
Calls to the office of J. David Markham, Wiley's attorney, have not been returned.
Wiley was arrested on a single count of possessing the materials in September of 2007, after which his contracts for representing juveniles in criminal and civil matters were immediately terminated, as Lake County News has reported. The children portrayed in the materials are not alleged to have been children he either knew or represented.
The District Attorney's Office did not formally charge Wiley until earlier this year. In July he was in court to plead not guilty to four felony counts of possession child pornography.
According to court documents, all local judges have recused themselves from the case, so Judge Harry N. Papadakis, a retired Fresno County Superior Court judge, is hearing the case.
The filing against Wiley alleges that on Feb. 27, 2007, a bailiff in Lake County Superior Court's Department A – where Wiley regularly appeared in the course of his work – found a thumb drive in the courtroom's jury box.
The bailiff plugged the device into a computer to see if he could identify who it belonged to, and that is when he is alleged to have discovered pornographic images of children. Afterward, the bailiff turned the thumb drive over to Det. Mike Curran of the Lake County Sheriff's Office, who passed it on to District Attorney's Office Investigator Craig Woodworth.
Woodworth is assigned to the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force, headquartered in Napa, and has expertise in examining computers, said Borg.
Investigators later served a search warrant on Wiley's home and Lakeport office, where they located “several devices” found to contain child porn, according to court documents.
One of the devices, a hard drive, is part of the case's evidence, which was sealed at Borg's request.
Wiley's preliminary hearing was held in two installments, the first on Sept. 17, with the hearing continued to Oct. 10.
Before the hearing began on Sept. 17, Markham, Borg and Papadakis had an informal meeting in chambers to try to reach a resolution.
“We are talking about settling the case for various reasons,” Borg told Lake County News.
Immediately following the Sept. 17 hearing, Woodworth helped Papadakis review the materials on the hard drive in the judge's chambers.
When the case returned to court Oct. 10, Markham successfully argued for reducing the four felony counts to two.
Those two charges would correlate with two occasions Wiley was alleged to have been found in possession of the pornographic materials. The first alleged instance was on Feb. 27, 2007, when the thumb drive was discovered in the courtroom, and the second was on Sept. 20, 2007, when a search warrant led to the discovery of additional materials. That also was the date Wiley was arrested.
Borg argued on Oct. 10 that Wiley had allegedly admitted to being in possession of the materials for years – at least a year and a half to two years, according to statements in court.
Papadakis, who viewed the materials, stated, “There is also the issue of art versus pornography.”
However, he added, “The court was satisfied that this was what we refer to as child pornography.”
Wiley has worked for about two decades in the local courts, and was considered an expert in juvenile justice matters.
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California Secretary of State Debra Bowen reported Friday that 17.3 million Californians have registered to vote, nearly a million more voters than were registered in October 2004 and nearly two million more than this same time in 2000.
Those 17.3 million account for 74.56 percent of the 23.2 million eligible voters in California, according to Bowen's office. That's up from the 69 percent statewide registration Bowen reported in September.
While this October's percentage is down slightly from the 75 percent registration recorded in October 2004, and the 80.21 percent registration in October 1996, California still has more registered voters now than ever before, with the state's population continuing to grow.
Here in Lake County, the numbers of registered voters also have grown, especially in the last month.
The September registration report showed that 71.86 percent of Lake County's 46,714 eligible voters were registered to vote, according to Bowen's office.
Her Oct. 20 report put Lake County's registration up to 75.18 percent – above the state average – with 35,154 voters prepared to go to the polls.
Since the start of January, Lake County's voter rolls have grown by approximately 2,800 voters, up just 1,474 in the last month alone, since Lake County News last reported on voter registration numbers.
In her more than two decades on the job, Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said this year's registration is the highest amount she's seen for any election, including presidential elections, which she said typically draw larger voter interest.
In preparing for the big day on Tuesday, Fridley said, “I expect a big turnout.”
The number of voters registered to vote by mail – or absentee ballot – also has grown.
Last month, the percentage of absentee ballots was at 44.3 percent. Fridley said for the election her office has issued 17,947 absentee ballots, which accounts for 51 percent of the county's registered voters. That's up by nearly 3,000 voters from the 14,953 Fridley reported as being registered to vote by mail permanently last month.
So far, she added, 9,711 absentee ballots already have been returned to her office.
Because of the number of absentee ballots they'll be counting this year, Fridley said her office will begin tallying those votes between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, although they can't release the results until after 8 p.m.
She said county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox and County Counsel Anita Grant have volunteered to be on hand to help her with the counting Tuesday.
Analyzing the numbers
On a statewide level, Democrats lead registration with 44.4 percent, compared to 31.4 percent for Republicans, according to Bowen's report. Third parties account for 4.3 percent of voter registrations, and “decline to state” has risen to its highest level ever, 19.9 percent.
The numbers in the latest report put Democrats up slightly from their 43 percent registration of four years ago, while Republicans have declined from 34.7 percent.
Both Democrats and Republicans have shown overall declines in registration since October 1992. That year, Democrats reported 49.1 percent registration and Republicans 37 percent, compared to 3.6 percent for third parties and 10.3 percent for decline to state voters.
Locally, Bowen's report showed that the number of eligible voters in Lake County grew from 46,454 in January to 46,758 in October.
In Lake County, the October report has Democrats at 43.5 percent of registered voters, or 15,292, up from 13,094, or 42.97 percent, in January.
Republicans had 10,545, or 30 percent, of registered voters, in October, an increase from 10,075 registered voters but down from the January percentage of 31.14 percent.
The third-highest designation was “decline to state” voters, who came in with 7,335 voters or 20.87 percent in October, compared to 6,488 or 20.05 percent at the year's start.
American Independents come in at 3.37 percent, with 1,183 registered voters, up slightly from 3.25 percent and 1,053 voters in January. The Green Party reported 380 registered members, or 1.08 percent, down from the 414 voters, or 1.28 percent, at the start of the year.
Other parties showed the following changes: Libertarians, 214 (0.61 percent) in October, 212 (0.66 percent) in January; Peace and Freedom, 131 (0.37 percent) in October, 129 (0.40 percent) in January; and “other,” 79 (0.24 percent) in October, 74 (0.21 percent) in January.
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