Incumbents ousted

The June 5 Primary Election was full of surprises, with a decided anti-incumbent outcome in several local races. In Mono County, for District 2 Supervisor, Fred Stump edged out incumbent Hap Hazard 476 to 389. For District 3 Supervisor, Tim Alpers KO’d incumbent Vikki Bauer 449 to 216. District 4 will go to a runoff on Nov. 6, as Bob Peters got 296 votes against Tim Fesko’s 272. Jan Huggans is out after pulling just 121 votes.

Speaking of Inyo County … in the Supervisor races, at press time absentee votes still have yet to be finalized, but former Bishop Mayor Jeff Griffiths was still ahead in District 2 with 312 votes or 51.57% of the vote. 50% plus one is all that is needed to win outright, so if that holds, no runoff will be required (Cash formally conceded via Facebook Thursday afternoon). Incumbent Supervisor Susan Cash gained 211 votes or 34.88% and candidate Russ Aldridge had 80 votes or 13.22%.

In District 4, current Supervisor Marty Fortney has 330 votes or 40.44%. Mark Tillemans, 266 votes or 32.60%. Nina Weisman gained 190 votes, which is 23.28% and Christopher Dangwillo, 29 votes or 3.55%. It appears like a runoff between Fortney and Tillemans.

In District 5, another run-off is likely, but incumbent Supervisor Richard Cervantes, who only pulled 134 votes or 20.62%, is definitely out. Matt Kingsley, with 304 votes or 46.77%, will face off in November against Jim Gentry, who landed 212 votes or 32.62%.

Proposition 28: Mono County said yes to new term limits with 1,618 votes. The measure also passed statewide with 61.4%.

Proposition 29: Mono County also said yes to additional $1 per pack tax on tobacco, with 1,399 votes, but the measure was narrowly defeated statewide, with 50.8% voting no. Inyo County voters also rejected the measure.