There will be no election for sheriff next year, even if Sheriff Mike Carona steps down.
Based on conversations with Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley and County Counsel Ben de Mayo, I’ve previously written that supervisors could call a special election next year should Carona vacate his office.
Part of the basis for that opinion came from this portion of Government Code Section 25304, addressing the fate of a supervisor-appointed sheriff: “The appointee shall hold office for the unexpired term or until the first Monday after January 1st succeeding the next general election.” (Emphasis mine.)
We have a county general election next June, which would seem to be when a new sheriff could be picked by voters if there was a vacancy. He would then assume the office the first Monday after Jan. 1, 2009. But…
– Martin Wisckol
But according to a memo sent to the Board of Supervisors by de Mayo, “the Attorney General has opined that the Board appointee serves the entire current term and another election would only be held for the succedding term.”
So there’s apparently no way that there will be an election for sheriff before the current term expires in 2010. If there’s a vacancy, supervisors will appoint the next sheriff. And based on the county’s history of electing incumbent sheriffs — even if they’re tarnished — an appointee by the supervisors will likely serve as sheriff for a long time to come.
– Martin Wisckol
Lets not forget that we already have a sheriff who hasn’t been convicted or resigned from office. That said, It could get very interesting if things change.
I’m betting that the *ss kissing on the 5th floor is already reaching monumental proportions.
Sheriff is going down, The Wife, and the other woman…. (Allegedy)
Karen A Finn
Police Wife
The Board of Supervisors does not HAVE to appoint a replacement when a vacancy occurs in a county-wide elected office. If they fail to make an appointment, a Special Election must be called and the votes decide.
Wait. John Moorlach was appointed in 1995 to replace Bob Citron. Moorlach then won the 1996 election for the remaining two years of Citron’s uncompleted term. Then in 1998, Moorlach won a full four-year term.
Why would this be any different if Carona resigned before the 2008 election?
Wisckol responds: There is not a sheriff’s election scheduled until 2010, and apparently supervisors are not obliged to call one before then if there is a vacancy — and may not even have the option of calling one. The distinction regarding Citron: Citron vacated his seat BEFORE the beginning of the subsequent term he was elected to (that term began in January 1995 — he’d stepped down by that point). There is a special provision in Government Code Section 25304 for that.