Supervisors Deserve to Stay

That there are seats open on the Board of Supervisors may be the best-kept secret of Tuesday’s election. One candidate even opined that he wasn’t sure that the voters in his district knew there was a race.

In fact, in two districts there aren’t. Brian Bilbray in District 1 and Susan Golding in District 3 are running unopposed. Only in District 2 is there any semblance of a campaign. There, Supervisor George Bailey is being challenged by sheriff’s Deputy Clyde Rinkes and Chris Heiserman, who is a former aide to Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier and to former Supervisor Paul Eckert. Charles Wheaton from Ramona is a write-in candidate.

None has waged much of a campaign. As a result, there has been next to no debate on the merits of the incumbents.

However, we do not have much hesitancy in recommending that all three be returned to office. They have been very active supervisors, tackling such difficult problems as jail crowding, indigent defense and the inequitable distribution of state funds. The board also hired a top administrator and made improvements at the troubled mental health and geriatric hospitals. County government is no longer plagued by what supervisors only half-facetiously call the “scandal of the month” of a few years ago.

Bailey’s challengers, while they should be complimented for running, lack the experience needed for the job.