TED CARLETON THROWS HIS HAT IN THE RING

Ed note: Ted Carleton was not involved in the writing, editing or revision of this article.

“Maybe the reason I’m running,” Ted Carleton said, “is because every time I look at their agenda, they’re not doing anything. Or talking about anything.”

Sitting over breakfast, Carleton spoke with The Sheet this week – this time not as the boss, but as a political candidate – about the patterns he sees in the Inyo County Board of Supervisors meetings, and what he would change.

“You’ll see expenditures of $200,000, $500,000, a million dollars lumped into the consent agenda,” he said. “There’s nothing that’s that much of a slam dunk where you don’t at least talk about it.”

Carleton is challenging incumbent Scott Marcellin and tribal leader Steven Orihuela in the race for Inyo County’s District 3 supervisor seat, which represents parts of West Bishop, including the Bishop Paiute Tribe reservation and surrounding neighborhoods.

Orihuela and Marcellin refused a request for an interview, but Carleton decided he should subject himself to the same opportunity he’d offered them.

After all, as he put it, he has “sat on the other side of the table and watched politicians operate” for 35 years as a journalist. Now, he’s stepping into the hot seat himself.

Originally from New Hampshire, Carleton holds a degree from Dartmouth College. He is a father of two and a Bishop local since 2015, where he relocated after his home in Swall Meadows was destroyed in the Round Fire.

But he’s been an Eastern Sierra mainstay for longer than that. Over two decades ago, he founded The Sheet and has published it since. In this role, he has attended countless public meetings across the Eastern Sierra and built relationships with local officials.

His takeaways from those years of observation are largely fiscal, centered on how local government allocates its resources. He argues that in recent years, the county has lost sight of this responsibility.

“It almost feels like the system doesn’t believe in itself anymore,” he said. “The organization has become more important than what the organization is supposed to do, which is to represent citizens.”

Much of his criticism is directed at staffing costs. As pension obligations grow and wages increase, he argues, investment in infrastructure and public services has fallen behind.

He says those priorities should be reversed, instead shifting resources toward emergency medical services, fire protection, and public amenities like parks.

He points to Millpond County Park as an example of a public-facing asset that has fallen into disrepair, with burrowing rodents and deteriorating amenities rendering parts of the park defunct or even dangerous.

To address this, Carleton proposes a broader reorganization of county operations, including closer scrutiny of labor contracts and an exploration of how the county’s clerical work could be pared down or supplemented by technology.

Afterall, he said, there’s no such thing as an exponential resource.

“If you hand a whole bunch of people money and continue to run your budget into a ditch, what happens?” he posed. “Arrest it now.”

This restructuring process, he said, should begin with hiring a capable County Administrative Officer (CAO), following the departure of former CAO Nate Greenberg.

“We never really learned what happened,” Carleton said, frustrated with what he sees as a lack of transparency and questioning the Board’s effectiveness in managing its sole employee.

Carleton points to his experience running a business as evidence of his ability to hire and manage staff. He credits The Sheet’s longevity, in part, to the writers he has brought on over the years.

“I have zero problem hiring people smarter than me,” he said. “That’s how you get better outcomes.”

As for investing in public services, one of Carleton’s most concrete proposals involves restructuring ambulance service. He criticized the current model, arguing it lacks proper incentives to maintain staffing and service levels.

Instead, he proposes bringing EMS under the umbrella of the Bishop Fire Department, expanding coverage, and requiring outlying communities (such as Mustang Mesa, Starlight, Aspendell and 40 Acres) that receive service to contribute financially.

“At a certain point, those areas need to pay their fair share,” he said.

More broadly, Carleton said he wants to see Inyo County become more self-reliant and less dependent on outside funding.

Housing is no exception.

“I hate California’s housing policy,” he said.

He argues that subsidized housing models tied to area median income (AMI) requirements fail to address the needs of middle-income workers while driving up per-unit costs. Reliance on state and federal funding, he added, makes the county less resilient in the long term.

He also expressed concern that development pressures from Mammoth Lakes, California are shifting demand south.

“Mammoth wants to export its housing problem down the hill,” he said. “And I’m saying no.”

Carleton’s business is based in Mammoth Lakes, where he first built his reputation covering local government debates over development and long-term planning. He watched those policies falter during the Great Recession, and said he does not want to see Inyo County repeat those mistakes.

“I’ve seen this movie before,” he said. “I know what’s coming.”