5th District supervisor candidates square off at candidates’ forum

Five candidates vying to replace Efren Carrillo on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors squared off in front of more than 200 people Wednesday evening over how to address the county’s crumbling roads, fast-track the annexation of Roseland into the city of Santa Rosa and rein in rising pension costs.

During the nearly two-hour candidates’ forum at the Graton Community Club House hosted by the League of Women Voters Sonoma County, former state Sen. Noreen Evans touted her plan to regulate and tax medical marijuana and, if legalized by California voters later this year, recreational sales as well.

Evans said financial estimates show that recreational pot sales could generate $1 billion to $10 billion per year in tax revenue.

“Sonoma County is one of the biggest producers of cannabis already,” said Evans, who is considered a front runner in the race. “We need to start planning for this now. I would use much of that new revenue for our roads.”

Lynda Hopkins, an organic farmer and the other front runner among five candidates, said she favors allocating a greater share of tourism dollars from hotel bed taxes for road repairs. She said money should remain in communities where tax revenue is generated. She also argued in favor of a bond measure to fund road repairs.

“We need to take more drastic measures,” Hopkins said.

Several times throughout the night, Evans argued that when annexed, Roseland should elect its own council member to serve on the Santa Rosa City Council.

“Roseland needs its own voice at city hall,” Evans said.

The effort to elect council members by district in Santa Rosa failed in 2012.

Hopkins said she would focus her efforts in Roseland to add new affordable housing and address homelessness, what she characterized as a “top priority.” She did not offer any specific ideas on how she’d address the two issues.

The candidates for the Board of Supervisors 5th District are Evans, an attorney and former state senator; Hopkins, a farmer and political newcomer; ?Tim Sergent, a special education teacher at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa; ?Tom Lynch, a county planning commissioner; and Marion Chase, a county social services worker.

The 5th District spans a huge territory, stretching from west Santa Rosa, to Bodega Bay and north to the Mendocino County border.

Chase, a county social services worker whose daily job it is to enroll people into food stamps and low-income health care programs, has become a vocal proponent for using vacant, county-owned land to build permanent housing for homeless people. She is also encouraging private property owners to convert hotels or other structures into permanent homeless housing, similar to a project underway on Santa Rosa Avenue.

“We need more projects like The Palms,” she said. “If you expect government to solve this alone, we’re going to be here for a very long time.”

Chase’s comments drew applause Wednesday night from the standing-room-only crowd. Several people cheered when she addressed a question about the funding of her campaign by naming her three total campaign contributors - herself, her sister and her brother-in-law.

Tom Lynch, a county planning commissioner and longtime pension critic, and Tim Sergent, a special education teacher at Maria Carrillo High School, also began listing their campaign contributors on one hand. Lynch has raised $500 from a member of the group Save Our Sonoma Roads, $1,500 from Fort Ross Winery and $500 from a real estate agent, he said. Sergent listed contributions from his parents, a teacher and his neighbor.

“They felt I’d be a good representative - someone with integrity,” Sergent said.

The contributions come in stark contrast to Hopkins and Evans, who have raised far more than Chase, Lynch and Sergent.

When asked to name her top three contributors, Hopkins named her husband’s father, Robert Hopkins, a winegrape grower outside Healdsburg. She also listed Tony Crabb and Barbara Grasseschi, owners of Puma Springs Vineyards in Alexander Valley and other “family and friends.”

Hopkins did not mention several campaign contributions from real estate and business interests, a topic that drew sharp criticism from Evans at another candidates’ forum held last week in Bodega Bay. Full campaign finance disclosures are not due until today, but early contribution reports show that Hopkins received the maximum contribution of $2,894 from the Northern California Engineering Contractors Association on April 20, as well as other donations.

“I urge you to find out who is supporting us,” Evans told another crowd that packed the room at the Bodega Bay Grange Hall last week.

Evans listed Sonoma County Conservation Action among her top contributors, as well as labor-friendly independent expenditure committees.

The candidates agreed ?they would seek to address the county’s rising pension costs, though none gave specific solutions.

“We need to get this system under control,” Hopkins said.

Most candidates also said they support an effort advanced by county supervisors this week to place on the November ballot a measure to ban genetically modified seeds and crops in Sonoma County. Lynch said he has no position because he has not read the initiative.

You can reach Staff Writer Angela Hart at 526-8503 or angela.hart@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ahartreports.