LAKE COUNTY — Northshore residents, get out your ballots and prepare to vote: this election is going to be interesting.
This year”s race for District Three supervisor — between incumbent Gary Lewis and challenger Denise Rushing — could turn out to be one of the most hotly contested political races in the county”s history.
“I”ve been here since 1962, and I”ve never seen two candidates vying so hard to be supervisor,” said Upper Lake resident and veterinarian Dr. Tim Strong.
Lewis and Rushing were the top two of three candidates in the June 6 Primary Election, in which Lewis took 34.2 percent of the votes cast and Rushing took 46.6 percent.
District Three includes Lake Pillsbury, Blue Lakes, Upper Lake, Nice, Lucerne, Spring Valley, Glenhaven and Clearlake Oaks. Its Northshore is the focus of county plans for redevelopment, which has been a sore spot for the area in this election.
The race has apparently caused schism in the district. Upper Lake resident and business owner Danna Sarlande said in a recent e-mail to the Record-Bee that Upper Lake”s Main Street “is divided in its support of the candidates.”
Anyone who visits Upper Lake can see for themselves: signs are posted frequently for both candidates, and in some cases they are side-by-side.
Strong speculated that the reason this race is so competitive is that “there are a lot of issues about agriculture, the farming industry, redevelopment, the possibility of a casino being constructed in downtown Upper Lake, and that”s why the two candidates are vying.
“What”s good,” said Strong, “is that both candidates are qualified. We have one who”s been doing the best job he can for the past eight years, and one who has a new vision.”
The incumbent Lewis has lived in Lake County for 31 years. He has worked in various capacities, including as a code compliance officer with the county.
He majored in sociology and minored in speech and communication at California State University, San Jose, graduating in 1972.
For 10 years he worked for Lockheed”s Missiles and Space Division, during which time he said he worked on the first docking vehicle in space, completed a two-year management training program and went into upper management.
“I quit because I was bored,” he explained.
He and his wife, Darla, moved to Lake County in the summer of 1975 to get away from the crowds, said Lewis. He has since owned two businesses, sold both and spent five years as an investor, licensed in California, Missouri, Texas and Florida.
“I was living on the phone and out of planes,” said Lewis. “I hated it. I wanted to be in Lake County.”
He then responded to an ad in the newspaper for a job as a code compliance officer with the county, where he worked for almost three years. “I started cleaning up the county with a vengeance,” said Lewis.
His job entailed handling nuisance abatements, which the results of a survey had said were sorely needed.
After a while, Lewis said people began asking him to run for supervisor. “I had never thought of it,” said Lewis. “It wasn”t an ambition I was working toward, but the more I thought about it, the more intriguing it became to me.”
Lewis lost the first election in which he ran in 1994 because, he said, “I didn”t put a lot into it because I went into it slower, not knowing what was entailed.”
He ran again and was elected in 1998, and has served as supervisor for nearly eight years.
Lewis” view on redevelopment is that the county needs a certain amount of growth in order to maintain a stable economy.
“Development is going to happen,” he explained. “It doesn”t have to be huge; it can be controlled as incremental growth. It is necessary to keep the economy moving forward.”
Lewis said the county”s look and economy has improved since he has been supervisor. “We”re a county of envy,” he said. “We have to figure out how people can come here like they want without having to pave it all. Otherwise we”re going to end up with a concrete jungle with a lake in the middle.”
Developing hotels and resorts in the county is critical, Lewis said, because they are needed in order to attract tourism.
n The challenger
Denise Rushing, who was born and raised in Northern California, came to Lake County early in 2004.
Rushing graduated in 1980 from Stanford University where she studied environmental sciences and alternative energy. She also holds a master”s degree in culture and spirituality from Holy Names University.
She worked for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for several years, and in 1991 launched their award-winning Commercial Energy Efficiency Services Program and Clean Air Vehicle Market Development.
Since then she has started Tactical Partners, which develops businesses and projects which focus on environmental improvement, energy efficiency or energy management. Her own home, located in an Upper Lake walnut orchard, is solar-powered.
As for redevelopment, Rushing said it is working well in Upper Lake, where a community council has input in the process.
“I think redevelopment is absolutely vital. It may be run the best it can be. I don”t know without getting underneath and looking,” she said. “The only thing I do know is that community involvement is key. It”s looking like there is plenty in Upper Lake, and as you move down he shore it needs to be enhanced.”
She proposes conducting regular surveys to get citizen input, and said she has a lot of questions about the current plans.
When Rushing said she wants to bring “openness and honesty” to government, one of the things she meant was developing an annual “state of the county” address to update citizens regarding the county”s budget and decisions.
Rushing”s key concerns are developing an internal economy, and water quality and availability. Energy efficiency is another thing Rushing said she will look at for the county if elected, specifically alternative fuel for the county”s fleet and for Lake Transit.
“Thriving local economy has a whole lot to do with looking at where we bring in money,” Rushing said. “Creating internal economy is a huge problem. So the best minds in Lake County need to be working on this problem.”
On the topic of marketing, she said her only problem with the current marketing plan is that “it”s fundamentally based on a tourist economy and a wine economy.”
n The finances
Campaign records at the county Registrar of Voters office reveal that this is also one of the county”s most expensive political races.
Spending just for the Nov. 8 runoff averages $17,500 for each candidate, a figure competitive with county Auditor Controller Pam Cochrane”s total expenditure of approximately $18,500 for the 1998 June Primary.
District Four Supervisor Anthony Farrington blows both of those figures out of the water, however, with expenditures of almost $32,000 just for the March 2004 election.
A more typical amount for one election is less than $10,000, according to the records as low as a couple thousand in some cases.
A full report on the race”s campaign contributions will follow in next week”s Record-Bee.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
