Original Post: 712pm Friday (Update Below)

In a shocker for Riverside County politics, longtime Supervisor Roy Wilson (pictured), whose 4th District Supervisorial Seat is on the eastern end of the county — and much of the Coachella Valley.  In his resignation letter Wilson states that he is resigning because of his poor health — and so we extend our heartfelt best wishes to Wilson as he deals with this personal trauma. 

In this instance, the vacancy on the Board of Supervisors will be filled by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Whomever he selects would fill out the remainder of Wilson’s term, which would have expired next year.

In what I would a non-typical circumstance, Wilson actually asks the Governor to appoint newly elected State Senator John Benoit to replace him.  One can assume that Wilson would not have done this without first consulting with Benoit.  It seems to me (and I have not spoken with him) that recently retired State Senator Jim Battin might also be interested in seeking that appointment.

You can be sure that this news will set off some fast and furious lobbying of the Governor — and you can be sure that there are a lot of other ersatz Supervisors out there in the desert, so the field of potential appointees it liable to grow larger than just Benoit and Battin. 

I should add that freshman Assemblyman Brian Nestande also represents much of the 4th Supervisorial District — but he is also a close political ally of Benoit and presumably unlikely to make his own play for an appointment if Benoit is going to seriously pursue that spot.

Of course, should the Governor tap Benoit — one can look to Nestande to strongly consider a run in a special election for Benoit’s Senate seat (ironically Nestande will not have even served a full two-year Assembly term by the time of this special election).  The myriad of political possibilities can cause one to reach for Advil.

Of course many FR readers hail from smaller counties and probably are scratching their heads at the idea of a state legislator wanting to become a county Supervisor.  Trust me, in larger counties, Supervisors are a big deal.  They wield a lot of influence, and the pay and benefits aren’t bad.  I should also add that in many counties Supervisors do not have term limits…

Since I’ve only found out about this in the last few minutes, I’ll look into it more, and see what there is to share with FR readers. 

Here is the Desert Sun’s first take on this.

UPDATE: (7:20 AM Sunday):

Here are links to the MSM stories on Wilson’s resignation.

LA Times, Desert Sun, Riverside Press Enterprise.

Upon further reflection, I thought I would pitch a few more thoughts into the analysis bin on this situation.  The first is that one has to wonder if it will be a factor for the Governor that tapping conservative John Benoit for this seat will create at least one special election, and the attendant costs.  If Benoit IS tapped by the Governor, forcing that special election, I mentioned above that freshman Assemblyman Brian Nestande would likely be a candidate.  But upon looking at the vast size of that State Senate seat, it dawned on me that my own Assemblyman, Jeff Miller, the former 8 year Chairman of the Riverside County Republican Party, is also a resident of Benoit’s Senate seat.  So one certainly can assume that he would be likely to jump in as well.  I was also thinking that former Assemblyman Russ Bogh, who practically got routed by Benoit in last year’s Senate race, is a little like the Energizer Bunny, so he, too, may get back into the race — especially if it turns out to be a multiple-candidate slug fest.

Of course, all of this gets a little bit ahead of things.  Wilson’s resignation is not quite yet effective, and then the Governor may take his time on filling the vacancy.

I should also add for observers, that it is a little ironic that as State Senator Benoit is apparently pursuing a seat on the Riverside Board of Supervisors, elsewhere in the County, Supervisor Jeff Stone is campaigning for a seat in the State Senate.  Go figure.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.