Tuesday, March 15, 2010 • City of Susanville elections heat up

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, March 16, 2010 edition of the Lassen County Times.

The race for the two vacant seats on the Susanville City Council has finally kicked into high gear, with a total of nine people taking out papers to become eligible in the June 8 election.

As of March 11, 2010, four people have returned with the required signatures and paperwork necessary to qualify for the election ballot, while five have yet to file.

The deadline to gain the required signatures and file with the city has been extended to Wednesday, March 17.

According to City Clerk Debra Magginetti, the deadline was extended an extra five days because neither Mayor Kurt Bonham or Vern Templeton, the current council members whose seats are up for election, have filed.

Magginetti said it’s city policy to allow these incumbents five more days, along with anyone else who wants to qualify for the election. Both Bonham and Templeton have made it clear they don’t have plans to run for re-election.

As for the nine people running for the vacant seats, the top two vote getters will take the seats. Some of the candidates have experience running for the council in previous elections, some have served on the council, and others are running for the first time.

Candidates who have already qualified for the ballot include Allen Barger, former councilmember Rod DeBoer, Nicholas McBride, Ron Wood, Phil J. Bertanzoni and Cheryl McDonald. Unqualified candidates, as of Friday, March 12 include, Craig Padelford, Joseph A. Turner and Alfred G. Vazquez.

Benjamin Wade, conductor of the Susanville Symphony, planned to run for city council, but because of his contract with CBS, he can’t run for public office. He is currently on the hit CBS show Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.

According to Federal Communication Commission regulation section 73.1941 on equal opportunities, “no station licensee is required to permit the use of its facilities by any legally qualified candidate for public office, but if any licensee shall permit any such candidate to use its facilities, it shall afford equal opportunities to all other candidates for that office to use such facilities. Such licensee shall have no power of censorship over the material broadcast by any such candidate.”

This essentially means that if Wade were to run for city council, CBS would be required by law to allow all other city council candidates the same broadcast opportunity.

The only other available seat up for election at the city is the position of city treasurer, currently held by Richard Stovall. Stovall has filed paperwork and is the only person so far who has qualified for the ballot. If no one else files for city treasurer by tomorrow, he will be the default winner.

Templeton has said he plans on taking a break from politics, whereas Bonham is currently running for county auditor-controller against incumbent Karen Fouch. Both have qualified for the June 8 ballot.

Because of the extension, anyone still wishing to run has until Wednesday, March 17, to go to 66 North Roop St. procure the paperwork, and return with the 20 signatures necessary for the June ballot.