The State - News from May 26, 1986

The California Supreme Court stayed the implementation of a law adopted hastily to cancel the June 3 election for San Mateo County sheriff, in which there is only one living candidate. The court ordered the ballots cast on June 3 to be impounded until the state Court of Appeal decides legal issues in the case. At the urging of county supervisors, the Legislature had passed a measure postponing the election and Gov. George Deukmejian had signed it. Jim White, the only candidate left after the April 21 death of incumbent Sheriff Brendan McGuire, petitioned the Supreme Court to block the law, arguing that it was unconstitutional. Controversy has surrounded White, a political unknown who was fired as a deputy sheriff in Texas for failing to disclose that he had shot a man at the age of 15.