RAINBOW MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT : Stickney Defeated in Reelection Bid

Fallbrook’s Herb Stickney was the farmer’s champion in Southern California water politics, but voters in his own North County water district have decided they have no more use for him back home.

Stickney, 74, was defeated by a 3 1/2-to-1 margin in his reelection bid in the Rainbow Municipal Water District, and says he will now resign as a director of both the San Diego County Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District, which serves as Southern California’s wholesaler of imported water.

As one of 51 directors on the MWD board--the world’s largest water agency--Stickney was roundly praised as the most effective voice in winning enhanced water rights for farmers. Historically, agricultural water users have had to stand in line behind domestic and industrial water users for access to the tap, and Stickney had been credited with winning the support of Los Angeles politicians for giving farmers equal access to imported water.

But, in the meantime, Stickney fell out of political favor in his own back yard.

Challenger Davis Roach successfully attacked Stickney for learning--but not acting on--the news in 1989 that the then-general manager of the Rainbow district had been overpaid $23,000 in salary over 1 1/2 years. Furthermore, Roach argued, Stickney supported a pay raise for John Perry even after news of his salary overpayments surfaced publicly in 1990.

“It was bad directing,” Roach said of Stickney’s term on the board. “The voters I talked to were concerned about being lied to, and about a cover-up. Despite his importance on the Met (Metropolitan Water District), voters didn’t see that as important as his work on the local board. That needed to be his first priority.”

Stickney said he wasn’t surprised by the defeat and held no sour grapes: “Things happen for the best. There’s a time and place for things to happen. George Bush and I can ride off into the sunset. The World War II generation is gone, and it’s time for another generation to get in. Nobody is irreplaceable.”

The Rainbow water board will now send another of its directors as its representative to the San Diego County Water Board which, in turn, will choose another director to replace Stickney at the MWD.