Joe Montes
This primary election season has been much more interesting than normal here in Butte County, California. It should be noted that Democratic registration is way up. In fact, about 1,000 more mail-in ballots have been sent to Butte County Democrats than Republicans. Despite the hoopla regarding Donald Trump supposedly bringing in more Republican voters, so far it seems that Bernie Sanders has had more of an impact in Butte County.
The last time Butte County went blue was in 2008, which was a very special year. Might we see a repeat in November?
And there have been way more letters-to-the-editor in favor of Joe Montes over Doug LaMalfa. Democrat Jim Reed has been absent from the Opinion pages. Despite that, the increased registration of Democratic voters should assure Jim Reed a slot in the November election. Might Joe Montes be the new challenger? Or maybe we will all be surprised and it will be a Montes versus LaMalfa runoff in November. Stay tuned.
Neither the Chico ER nor the Paradise Post have made an endorsement. The CNR predictably endorsed Reed. This is a race that most of us thought would be pretty boring that has turned out to furnish some excitement, complete with the usual dirty tricks by LaMalfa.
The Republican Party seems split on the matter. Republican Chair, Mike Zuccollillo sent out a mailer where he endorsed Montes over LaMalfa. He also complained regarding the use of mailers by LaMalfa which implied that the Butte County Republican Party had endorsed him. This is all very interesting.
The other race that is interesting in Butte County is the 5th Supervisor District. The Incumbent, Doug Teeter, read the tea leaves and registered as a Republican. He used to be an Independent and, in fact, got the endorsement from the Paradise Democratic Club back in 2012. This year he has a couple of Republican challengers, the most aggressive from Dianna Wright who is a prolific letter writer and Republican Gadfly. The problem is that Dianna Wright might split the Republican vote that Teeter so desperately seeks, throwing the election to Big Mo Huffman.
Huffman is running as a Democrat and the Dems have actually done some work this year. They have opened an office in Paradise and they have been reinvigorated by a couple of rowdy locals. With the increased voter Registration of the Dems (almost even in Paradise in mail-in vote ballots sent), the BERNIE effect, along with Dianna Wright splitting the Republican Teeter vote, just might make Big MO' Huffman's election possible.
Of course, Doug Teeter has been a good supervisor. He has done his homework and he is especially interested in protecting (and providing access to) Butte County's wild lands. Losing Teeter would be a shame because he deserves re-election. He should have stuck it out as an Independent and given up aligning himself with Doug LaMalfa in a mailer.
Neither the Chico ER nor the Paradise Post have made an endorsement. The CNR predictably endorsed Reed. This is a race that most of us thought would be pretty boring that has turned out to furnish some excitement, complete with the usual dirty tricks by LaMalfa.
The Republican Party seems split on the matter. Republican Chair, Mike Zuccollillo sent out a mailer where he endorsed Montes over LaMalfa. He also complained regarding the use of mailers by LaMalfa which implied that the Butte County Republican Party had endorsed him. This is all very interesting.
The other race that is interesting in Butte County is the 5th Supervisor District. The Incumbent, Doug Teeter, read the tea leaves and registered as a Republican. He used to be an Independent and, in fact, got the endorsement from the Paradise Democratic Club back in 2012. This year he has a couple of Republican challengers, the most aggressive from Dianna Wright who is a prolific letter writer and Republican Gadfly. The problem is that Dianna Wright might split the Republican vote that Teeter so desperately seeks, throwing the election to Big Mo Huffman.
Huffman is running as a Democrat and the Dems have actually done some work this year. They have opened an office in Paradise and they have been reinvigorated by a couple of rowdy locals. With the increased voter Registration of the Dems (almost even in Paradise in mail-in vote ballots sent), the BERNIE effect, along with Dianna Wright splitting the Republican Teeter vote, just might make Big MO' Huffman's election possible.
Of course, Doug Teeter has been a good supervisor. He has done his homework and he is especially interested in protecting (and providing access to) Butte County's wild lands. Losing Teeter would be a shame because he deserves re-election. He should have stuck it out as an Independent and given up aligning himself with Doug LaMalfa in a mailer.
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