Mitzelfelt
Neil Nisperos and Benjamin Demers, Staff Writers
Posted: 06/12/2012 09:45:09 PM PDT
Brad Mitzelfelt has about six months left as a member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, but after that his future is uncertain.
Mitzelfelt suffered a crushing defeat in last week’s primary election in the 8th Congressional District. The supervisor finished fifth of 13 candidates with about 10.8 percent of the vote.
The outcome surprised some because of Mitzelfelt’s time representing the large 1st Supervisorial District, which encompasses a good share of newly drawn District 8. The district takes in a wide-ranging area, including Victorville, Barstow and Needles in San Bernardino County as well as all of Inyo and Mono counties.
“I think people who were familiar with my work as supervisor were there for me, but it just wasn’t our race,” Mitzelfelt said.
His campaign touted his efforts as a supervisor in improving fire protection, gang suppression and intervention as well as securing hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure construction.
Those highlights, as well as his time on an array of boards and commissions in the area, did not sway District 8 voters.
The top two spots were captured by Tea Party conservative Gregg Imus, with 15.5 percent, and Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa, with 15.3 percent of the vote. In the new primary system, the top two vote-getters move on to the general election, regardless of party.
Imus said Mitzelfelt was one of only a handful of local politicos who called him after the election.
Mitzelfelt “congratulated me and said that’s how grass- roots campaigns are supposed to be run,” Imus said.
Mitzelfelt said he was impressed with Imus and compared his campaign with that run by Tim Donnelly, who captured the 59th Assembly District seat in 2010 and was the top vote-getter last week in the new 33rd Assembly District. Imus was Donnelly’s campaign manager in 2010.
“I really like to see that when a private citizen can organize a grass-roots campaign and win – it’s kind of gratifying in a way to see that,” Mitzelfelt said.
The supervisor said he heard political observers early on, saying Cook would be difficult to push out of the top two because of his name recognition in District 8′s southwestern region.
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In the Sun, Mitzelfelt says he considers running for office again. I will tell you with 100% certainty that Bradley will NEVER hold a public office in the High Desert again. Period.
Ditto!
Or the county.
He was riding high, and blew an opportunity very few are “handed” as he was, more rare are those offered a second chance…Brad is not one of them, sorry.
That goes the same for Derry.
Mitzefelt has no real opportunity to have another elected position handed to him. Mr. Mitzefelt created to many enemies that would stop at nothing to defeat him. Gregg Imus and Paul Cook both had people working hard in various capacities to win the election. Mr. Mitzelfelt could have beaten Mr.Cook but failed to get ground operations going and did not do enough community outreach. This article should read, “Political Career in Ruins” as Mitzelfelt lost to a wealthy man who did not live in the 8th district. Mr. Mitzefelt clearly needs to examine why some took issue with him and try to reach out to a broader base, if he plans to run for an elected office. It’s my guess that his career as a politician is over. The same issue he has now as supervisor is people are indifferent to him.
#4 You are correct, people are indifferent to Mitzefelt. He spent most of his time being indifferent to the people he served, except those he catered to for political purposes.
#3 Derry has a second chance, and we should all be there to support him. Unlike Mitzefelt, Derry has always been fully involved and sincerely interested in the people he serves; to his credit, his sights and interests are not only for the good of the third district, but for the overall county. We need to stand behind him and support him, not only until November, but beyond!
Mitzelfelt fell horribly because EVERYBODY was sick and tired of the corrupt backroom deals, political payouts, and the good ol’ boys club from the Postmus era. Great job CD 8 constituents. Karma is a…well you know.
Now I hope Imus/Cook knows that they cannot use any of Mitzelfelt’s corrupt staffers. They will come with great promises of connections galore and strategies, but they are all from the Postmus era as well, and need to move on and hang it all up. Now go find a real job like the rest of us, but no one will hand you anything anymore because they have no reason to hand you anything…unless they feel sorry for all of your pathetic lives.