IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Gary Ovitt, the three-term County Supervisor from Ontario, has decided to retire at the end of his term representing the Fourth Supervisorial District of San Bernardino County. The District, made up of the cities of Chino, Chino Hills, Montclair, Ontario and a portion of Upland has been well represented by the former High School teacher and Ontario Councilmember and Mayor.
Assemblyman Curt Hagman announced this week that he intends to succeed Ovitt as the next Supervisor. Hagman, who currently represents the 55th Assembly District that covers Chino Hills and portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties is in his final term in the Assembly. He formerly served as a Councilmember and Mayor for Chino Hills.
The jump from the State Legislature to the County Board of Supervisors has become a common occurrence as term limits have forced experienced legislators from Sacramento. In Hagman’s case, (as was with former Fourth District County Supervisor Fred Aguiar), the jump from the legislature to the county will provide the district with a valuable and experienced advocate.
While the Fourth District has trended more Democratic in recent years, Hagman’s experience, name identification, and knowledge of the region makes him a strong contender in the June election. Only one potential challenger could credibly challenge Hagman, that being Congresswoman Gloria Negrete McCleod who was just elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 and has yet to serve a single term.
McCleod defeated former Congressman Joe Baca in a highly contested race for the 35th District, which had just recently been created under the new redistricting guidelines in 2010. While McCleod has a significant potential war chest, she would have a very difficult time explaining to her constituents why she should be elected to County Supervisor after just being promoted from the State Senate to National Office. Three different positions in less than three years may be a bit hard for constituents to understand.
McCleod would also be running in a far less Democratic District, losing the cities of Rialto and Pomona, two Democrat strongholds.
One thing is certain, neither of these two candidates has the negative relationship with County Employee’s as do all of the incumbent County Supervisors currently in office. While many of the unions representing county employees are in disarray, they remain potential problems in elections where Supervisors voluntarily cut their own throats with campaign contribution limits.
With Ovitt out of the election, does this allow public employees to focus their sights on 2nd District Supervisor Janice Rutherford?
