Healy will run for supervisor seat

<p>Petaluma City Councilman Mike Healy announced Thursday he will seek election to the 2nd District seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, joining a growing field of candidates in what promises to be a hard-fought and expensive race.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Healy, a 51-year-old civil attorney, will compete against longtime rival Petaluma Mayor Pam Torliatt, former Councilman Mike O'Brien and Penngrove rancher and accountant John King.</p><p>Other candidates are expected to enter before the February filing deadline for the job that pays $134,092 a year.</p><p>"Before this thing is over, you will have five or six people in it," said political analyst and former Petaluma Councilman Brian Sobel. "You're going to have half the council running. And a lot of money will be spent."</p><p>The seat is open thanks to the retirement of Mike Kerns of Petaluma, who has represented the south county on the five-member board since 1998.</p><p>Healy, who's earned a reputation as a pro-business moderate, was a councilman for eight years before losing the 2006 mayoral race to Torliatt and returning to office in 2008.</p><p>He was a director for the Sonoma County Transportation Authority for six years and has been an outspoken opponent of a tribal casino planned near Rohnert Park.</p><p>As a supervisor, he said his main goals would be to complete the widening of Highway 101, get a commuter train operating and find solutions to the county's water problems.</p><p>"People expect government to achieve real results. And that's what I'm trying to do," Healy said. "I don't want to just move issues sideways. I think I have a track record that supports that."</p><p>Torliatt, 42, announced her candidacy last month. She leads the council's slow-growth majority and has been in city government since her appointment to the Planning Commission in 1992 at age 25. She works part time on her boyfriend's ranch.</p><p>Her term as mayor ends in December 2010 and Councilman and former Mayor David Glass has announced his candidacy for the position.</p><p>O'Brien, 55, is a former CHP officer and one-term councilman who did not seek re-election. He is fleet safety manager for North Bay Corp. waste disposal company.</p><p>King, 53, has advocated for clean and safe water and has challenged Rohnert Park's growth plans because of the impacts on nearby Penngrove.</p><p>If no supervisorial candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in June, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held in November 2010.</p><p>That's a likely scenario given the number of well-known candidates, each with considerable followings, Sobel said.</p><p>The winner will be the one who can appeal to voters beyond Petaluma, which has about 75 percent of registered voters. The district includes Cotati, unincorporated Penngrove and parts of Rohnert Park.</p><p>Spending could shatter previous records for the region, Sobel predicted.</p><p>"You're going to have a knock-down, drag-out battle here," he said.</p>