Supervisor race: Farr, Pappas in runoff

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara County’s sprawling third district got one step closer to getting a new supervisor last night after Doreen Farr and Steve Pappas clinched the top two spots and will continue their campaigns through November.
As the first precincts began reporting at 8 p.m., Farr jumped out to an early lead and carried it through the night. With 96.7 precincts in the third district reporting as of press deadline, Farr had a commanding lead with 35.98 percent of the vote — 10 percentage points higher than Pappas’ 25.08 percent.

“I’m so proud of the campaign that we’ve run. I’m very proud of the residents of the third district and of the county,” Farr said while celebrating at the Hollister Brewing Company in Goleta. “[The residents of the third district] love their county, they care about its future, they want to be involved in their future and I want to be a very, very good supervisor for them and work very hard.”
Farr, a Santa Ynez resident who was once a second district planning commissioner, said she believes her message of preservation was well received by voters.
Pappas, who ran for the seat in 2004 and received a mere 6.53 percent of the vote then, said second place is fine with him.
“We’re feeling pretty good there about second place,” he said while celebrating at Montanero Farm near Los Olivos. “This is what we wanted.”
Pappas credited a wave of momentum over the past few weeks for pushing him through to the finish. In an eight-week period, his campaign raised a whopping $140,000.
Pappas edged Dave Smyser by five percentage points. Smyser, a former third district planning commissioner who was handpicked by current Supervisor Brooks Firestone as his successor, received just over 20 percent of the vote.
Dr. Dave Bearman received slightly more than 10 percent of the vote while Victoria Pointer, a six-term Buellton City Councilwoman, rounded out the pack with 7.94 percent.
With 61.2 percent of precincts reporting in the race for fourth district supervisor, Joni Gray was leading John Sterling with nearly 59 percent of the vote. If Gray ends up clinching the seat, it will be her third consecutive term.
First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, who ran uncontested, said he simply felt relieved when he found out no one would be challenging him.
“When I found out no one was running against me it was surreal,” he said. “It’s a great feeling no one’s against me and hopefully that’s an affirmation of my service.”
Carbajal said he looks forward to providing his “seamless” service on the board over the next four years without worrying about reelection for a while. He also offered a prediction, saying he looks forward to being on the board with Farr, who he endorsed.
In the lone Superior Court Judge race, County Prosecutor John MacKinnon clinched a runoff spot with 39 percent of the vote, while either Kevin Ready or Jed Beebe will compete for the second spot. As of deadline, Ready had 19.85 percent of the vote compared to Beebe’s 20.65 percent.
County Clerk, Recorder and Assessor Joe Holland said some of the results could change slightly in the days to come as the 10,000 to 15,000 vote by mail ballots received yesterday still need to be counted.