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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
In Clearlake, Jeri Spittler and Joey Luiz were the top vote getters in a field of nine candidates. They were seeking the seats to be vacated next month by Clearlake Councilmen Chuck Leonard and Roy Simons.
Preliminary results released early Wednesday morning by the Lake County Registrar of Voters showed that Spittler led the field with 769 votes, or 19.9 percent, followed by Luiz with 642 votes or 16.6 percent.
Finishing out of the seats were Bill Perkins, 547 votes, 14.1 percent; Jim Scholz, 528 votes, 13.6 percent; Frank Taylor, 457 votes, 11.8 percent; Barbara Grier, 401 votes, 10.4 percent; Raymond Brady, 239 votes, 6.2 percent; Estella Creel, 201 votes, 5.2 percent; and Michael J. Walton, 87 votes, 2.2 percent.
City Clerk Melissa Swanson was returned with 100 percent of the vote, or 1,785 ballots cast for her. No person filed for the city treasurer spot.
In Lakeport, the seats currently held by Mayor Jim Irwin and Council Ron Bertsch were on the ballot, with Bertsch not seeking reelection.
Businesswoman Stacey Mattina led the field, with 433 votes or 20.7 percent of the vote.
She was followed by former Lakeport Police Chief Tom Engstrom, who received 380 votes, or 18.2 percent, despite having dropped out of the race several weeks ago, citing commitments to his church, as Lake County News has reported.
Finishing third was George Spurr, with 315 votes or 15.1 percent of the vote, followed by Irwin, 306 votes, 14.6 percent; Marc Spillman, a city planning commissioner, 304 votes, 14.5 percent; former Councilman Ted Mandrones, 225 votes, 10.8 percent; and P.J. Racine, 130 votes, 6.2 percent.
It's unclear at this point if Engstrom can simply decline to serve, clearing the way for Spurr to take the seat, or if an appointment or special election may have to follow.
In other election news, the Konocti Unified School District Board of Trustees saw two incumbents returned and a new member elected.
Anita Gordon won reelection with 24.8 percent of the vote, or 2,233 votes, followed by Bill Diener, with 2,131 votes, 23.7 percent, and incumbent Herb Gura, 1,638 votes, 18.2 percent. All three will serve four-year terms on the board.
The remainder of the field included Russell Kay Hunt, 1,100 votes, 12.2 percent; Lynda C. Davis-Robinson, 1,008 votes, 11.2 percent; and Philip J. Tuley, 891 votes, or 9.9 percent.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Congressman Mike Thompson, 59, decisively won his seventh two-year term in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
“I feel both humbled and grateful,” Thompson told Lake County News just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, not long after he was declared the winner in a field that included Republic Loren Hanks, Green Party candidate Carol Wolman and Libertarian Mike Rodrigues.
With 89.1 percent of the precincts in the First Congressional District counted as of 2:45 a.m., Thompson had 92,591 votes, or 61.6 percent of the vote, compared to Hanks' 49,182 votes, accounting for 32.7 percent of the vote. Wolman took 5,138 votes, 3.4 percent, and Rodrigues received 3,600 votes, or 2.3 percent.
Hanks told supporters in Napa Tuesday night that they've seen “a powerful shift in public sentiment” with the toppling of the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.
“This district kept its incumbent, and we wish Mike Thompson good health in the next Congress,” he said. “But the conservative constituents of the district have awakened and after tonight, we will retool and retrench.”
He said the race “race has been a good first step in a long campaign to return the country to a Constitutional foundation.”
Thompson said he's honored to be able to continue to serve the First Congressional District, where he said he's worked with residents on the issues that are important to them.
He said he is looking forward to getting back to work when Congress goes back into session on Nov. 15.
However, come January, when new members of Congress are sworn in, the House will be under new leadership, with the Republicans retaking the majority, whereas the Democrats retained their majority in the Senate.
As to one of the legislative targets of Republicans, “I don't think they can repeal health care,” said Thompson. “There are just too many good things people are already enjoying.”
Thompson said President Barack Obama also wouldn't sign such repeal legislation.
“Everybody knows that health care was not sustainable,” Thompson said. “It needed to be fixed.”
Thompson acknowledged that there has been a lot of criticism about the fix that Congress produced.
“The truth of the matter is, we have a health care path upon which we'll continue to move, continue to make sure that Californians and Americans have access to quality affordable health care,” Thompson said. “That's something we've been trying to do in this country for decades.”
The Republicans will now steer a lot of legislation, but no matter who is in the Speaker of the House's chair, Thompson said he's not concerned about working closely with his colleagues across the aisle, which is something he said he has always done and will continue to do.
“I've been in the minority more than I've been in the majority,” he said.
Looking ahead at the serious challenges still facing the country, Thompson said he hopes the new Republican majority will be “interested in working with everyone to do what's best for America.”
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Noah Shinn, 39, of Laytonville was arrested on Tuesday by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
He was taken into custody for robbery, threats, conspiracy, murder, and cultivation and sales of marijuana, according to Capt. Kurt Smallcomb.
Shinn was arrested in connection with the Oct. 30 shooting death of 21-year-old Timothy Burger of Sacramento, one of several alleged suspects in a home invasion robbery linked to marijuana, officials reported.
Smallcomb said detectives were contacting witnesses in Sacramento on Tuesday when they located Noah Shinn, who also is the father of another suspect in the case, 19-year-old Sacramento resident Christopher Shinn. The younger Shinn was booked on Oct. 30 for the same charges as his father.
Noah Shinn's bail was set at $250,000, according to Smallcomb, the same amount that Christopher Shinn was booked on last week.
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The solo-vehicle collision was reported shortly before 4 p.m. in the 9200 block of Konocti Bay Road at Sequoia, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The rollover crash resulted in the driver being ejected from the vehicle, according to reports from the scene.
REACH air ambulance transported the crash victim to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, officials reported.
The CHP reported that it was seeking a blood draw from the driver in the crash.
Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews , on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .