SO WHAT BECAME OF THE LOPEZ INVESTIGATION?

What follows are excerpts from the Inside Opinion blog by Press Democrat editorial writers Paul Gullixson and Jim Sweeney. The blog can be found on WatchSonomaCounty.com.

Six months ago, it appeared that the decision on whether to prosecute Deputy Erick Gelhaus in the killing of 13-year-old Andy Lopez would be a seminal issue in this year's race for Sonoma County district attorney.

But it hasn't turned out that way, primarily because the incumbent, Jill Ravitch, who is being challenged by Deputy District Attorney Victoria Shanahan in Tuesday's primary, has yet to announce her decision.

The department's guideline is to review law enforcement investigations of officer-involved shootings, conduct additional investigations and announce a decision within 90 days. As of today, it has been four months since the district attorney received the report on the Lopez shooting from the Santa Rosa and Petaluma police departments.

Granted, Ravitch has been on the hot spot since day one, not just on whether to pursue criminal charges. State a position too quickly, and she opens herself up to criticism of not being thorough. Go too slowly, and she's vulnerable to accusations of being too political. This is particularly true if the decision is made after Tuesday's election, which now appears inevitable.

"The truth of the matter is we are still working on the case," Ravitch told me Friday when I called to ask her about it. She was adamant that the reason for the delay "is in no way connected to this election."

As evidence, Ravitch said her office had received new information as recently as Thursday from an expert who was contacted as part of the investigation. "As a result, this expert produced a statement that was new to us," she said.

In fact, DA investigators, with the assistance of someone from the FBI, were out at the location of the

Oct 22 shooting on Friday doing further analysis, according to Ravitch and lead investigator Brian Davis.

"It's an investigation that continues," she said.

She said she shares the public interest in seeing a resolution. "But I remind you, and I remind your readers, that this is not an unusually long period of time for an investigation of this nature," she said.

An analysis her office released Jan. 30 showed that local prosecutors had exceeded the 90-day turnaround guideline in 23 out of the 30 police shootings, jail deaths and other officer-involved fatalities investigated since 2005. Since her election four years ago, Ravitch has ruled on five such deaths. Three of those reviews took 90 days or less. The average has been about four months. One review took more than seven months.

By comparison, in the case of 16-year-old Jeremiah Chaas of Sebastopol, who died in a violent confrontation with two Sonoma County sheriff's deputies in 2007, the District Attorney's Office reviewed the case for nearly eight months before the decision not to prosecute was announced.

"I'm not going to be swayed by politics," Ravitch said.

If she decides not to file criminal charges, she said, she will release an "extensive statement to the public" explaining why she reached that decision. In that event, "there will be a presentation of the evidence. ... I'm going to be very clear about what I considered."

But it appears that may yet be a while.

-- Paul Gullixson

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It's probably not a coincidence that the largest turnout for a California primary in a non-presidential election year came in 1978. Proposition 13 topped the ballot, and 68.8 percent of registered voters cast ballots. And it shouldn't surprise anyone if Tuesday's election produces the smallest turnout of any California primary, presidential or otherwise.

The present record low comes from 2008, when 28.8 percent of registered voters took part in the second half of a bifurcated primary. The turnout was 57 percent for a presidential primary in February, with congressional, legislative and local elections held in June.

Paul Mitchell, a Sacramento-based numbers cruncher who tracks mail ballots, reports that returns are running behind June 2008, when just 4.5 million ballots were cast. As of Thursday, about 1.5 million mail ballots had been returned in the state.

But don't count on getting final results any earlier than usual. Mail ballots received by Monday and ballots cast at the polls will be counted on Tuesday. It will take a couple weeks, maybe more to process and count any ballots that get dropped off at the polls or arrive at county registrar's offices in Tuesday's mail.

-- Jim Sweeney

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Need a reason to vote on Tuesday? Try this: It could be more than a decade before you get another chance to fill a legislative seat.

All of the local legislative contests in this primary, except for the 10th Assembly District race, are for open seats. Given changes in term limits, which now allow legislators to serve for up to 12 years in one seat, it's possible that North Coast voters may not see a vacancy in these positions for some time. And while the top-two primary has opened up opportunities for moderate candidates to serve in Sacramento it has yet to prove a viable weapon against the armor of incumbency.

-- Paul Gullixson

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As it turns out, the Ravitch-Shanahan race is one of just three local contests that will be decided on Tuesday. The same is true of Santa Rosa City Councilman Gary Wysocky's attempt to unseat David Sundstrom as auditor-controller-treasurer-tax collector and for Supervisor David Rabbitt's effort to hold off a challenge from Penngrove rancher John King. With just two candidates in those races, one person will emerge as victor.

As for Ravitch, her supporters found out last week that there will be no election night party, even if she is victorious. As if life hasn't proven challenging enough of late, her father, a San Francisco resident, died on Tuesday. This comes just five months after she lost her mother.

-- Paul Gullixson

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If you're looking for the big money in state politics, turn away from the candidates and look at the independent expenditure campaigns, which operate without contribution limits.

Two years ago, in the general election, labor interests squared off against ag and business in the North Bay's 2nd Assembly District contest between Michael Allen (labor's guy) and Marc Levine (ag and biz). Levine prevailed in that contest.

This spring, outside money is being spent in the neighboring 4th Assembly District, which stretches from Davis to Rohnert Park. Labor is supporting Democrat Dan Wolk and opposing Democrat Bill Dodd. Business interests, meanwhile, are spending heavily on behalf of Dodd and against Wolk. They're among five candidates running for a seat being vacated because of term limits.

-- Jim Sweeney