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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > CARILLO, FURCH EARLY SUPERVISORIAL LEADS
Article published - June 3, 2008
Credit: PRESS DEMOCRAT
Carrillo, Furch early supervisorial leads
By GUY KOVNER
Efren Carrillo, the political rookie dubbed “The Kid,” and veteran Sonoma County planning commissioner Rue Furch jumped out to early leads Tuesday in the eight-candidate race for the west county supervisorial seat.
Carrillo, 27, had more than 24 percent of the vote in early returns from the 5th District, with more than one-fourth of the precincts reporting. Furch, 62, was in second place with 21 percent.
The top two candidates will compete in a run-off on Nov. 4.
Maddie Hirshfield, 57, legislative aide to Assemblywoman Patty Berg, was third with 18 percent of the vote.
Virtually tied in fourth place were Tom Lynch, a builder and community activist, and Jim Maresca, a retired high-tech business executive, both with about 10 percent.
The west county race was invigorated by the retirement of incumbent Supervisor Mike Reilly, who is stepping down after 12 years in office.
In a wide open contest, the candidates raised more than $343,000, with nearly 40 percent coming from personal loans.
The west county seat on the five-member Board of Supervisors has traditionally been held by someone with environmental credentials, emblematic of a community that pivots on a Sebastopol-to-Russian River axis.
Carrillo, a consumer financial counselor with Redwood Credit Union, is also president of the board of Southwest Community Health Center. He received financial support from business and real estate groups and credit unions.
Furch’s campaign stumbled over revelations that she didn’t pay her property taxes for five years, then paid her tax bill with a loan from a developer.
But Furch, with 16 years on the county planning panel, got strong support from environmental organizations. She was endorsed by Sonoma County Conservation Action and Reilly.
Hirshfield, a former chairwoman of Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee, brought the most extensive political portfolio to the race. She was supported by service and trade unions and state officeholders.
Hirshfield ran for west county supervisor in 1996, when she came in fifth of seven candidates with 8 percent of vote.
Lynch, 50, is best known by the moniker, “Manure Man,” which he listed as his nickname on the election ballot. Lynch earned it for his act of disobedience a quarter century ago, dumping a tractor load of cow manure on the steps of Santa Rosa City Hall, protesting the city’s release of sewage into the Russian River.
Maresca, 64, a former Monte Rio school board member and Russian River Chamber of Commerce leader, put $100,000 of his own money into a campaign with lots of mailers and radio ads.
Rounding out the field were Guy F. Smith, an agricultural property manager with almost 8 percent; Dan Kahane, Sonoma County Water Agency program specialist, with almost 6 percent; and Eddie Alvarez, a Roseland business owner who dropped out of the race, with almost 3 percent.
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