Deadline is near to declare supervisor candidacy

It’s time for all those candidates blabbing for months about running for open seats on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to step up and put their names where their mouths are.

Today, 5 p.m. to be exact, is the deadline for candidates to complete their paperwork for running for the west county seat held by Mike Reilly and the central county seat held by Tim Smith. Neither seeks re-election in the June 3 primary.

This year’s election will likely mark the biggest changeover in years. Already, there is campaign scuttlebutt that some candidates are backed by the forces of environmental groups and others supported by business groups.

If so, look for a donnybrook akin to election contests for the Santa Rosa City Council that pitted similar groups against each other.

As of this morning, these candidates have qualified for the ballot in the 5th District:

Maddy Hirshfield, an aide to Assemblywoman Patty Berg; Eddie Alvarez, Roseland store owner; Tom Lynch, builder; Daniel Kahane, vegetable grower & Water Agency program specialist; Guy Smith, contractor and Laguna Foundation board member

And these potential candidates haven’t: Rue Furch, county planning and zoning commissioner; Jim Maresca, retired high tech executive; Phil Graf, gun rights activist; William Kuziara, attorney

In third district race, three candidates have qualified: Rohnert Park councilman Tim Smith, former Santa Rosa councilwoman Sharon Wright and Council on Aging director Shirlee Zane. Santa Rosa councilwoman Veronica Jacobi was checking out the filings last Friday, so she’ll probably file today as well.

The two top vote-getters in June will advance to a runoff election in November, unless somebody is able to capture more than 50 percent of the vote.