Local Election Results - El Dorado Hills Shocker - John Knight Loses

Cris Alarcon, Placerville Newswire, June 6, 2012 Election Day Shocker: District 1 Incumbent Supervisor John Knight Loses to charismatic neophyte Ron (Mik) Mikulaco in El Dorado Hills. Ron takes El Dorado Hills District 1 seat by 502 votes.

District 2 Supervisor Ray Nutting Glides to victory with a 2:1 lead over challenger George Turnboo.

District 3 was a race to see how well heavy favorite Brian Veerkamp did and who would take second place and challenge him in a run off election in November. Although heavily favored by family name recognition, Brian Veerkamp took less then 1/3 of the votes. The real story was the nail-biter second place which started the night with Senior Advocate Al Hamilton winning the early mailed-in ballots but with Richard Barb coming from behind to pass Al Hamilton mid-way through the count. Barb never gave up the lead and will face Veerkamp in the run-off election in November. Sue Taylor did unexpectedly poorly winning just over 10% of the vote.

BRIAN KEITH VEERKAMP: 2910 votes, 32.91%
RICHARD BARB: 1989 votes, 22.49%
A. L. HAMILTON: 1918 votes, 21.69%
SUE TAYLOR: 1016 votes, 11.49%
CATHY NERWINSKI: 801 votes, 9.06%
ALLEN AMARO: 189 votes, 2.14%

A notably bitter Superior Court Judge race came in with predicable results but masked the hostility of a contentious campaign. Although the incumbent won the plurality of the vote, he did not win the majority and will face a run-off challenge in November. Seated Judge Warren Stracener was expected to win without any challenge, or with minimal challenge only, but this was not the case. Not only was he challenged by two strong campaigns of Joe Hoffman and Steve Valentine but also by an independent group questioning his effectiveness and voracity. Feeling the challenge, Stracener reached into his own pocket and funded his campaign with an additional $70,000, but it was not enough to win outright. In the end Stracener took in 15,071 votes, but the combined votes of second and third place finishers equaled 20,381 votes. With both Stracener and Hoffman facing each other in a run-off, an already nasty fight is destined to get even uglier before a winner is declared in November.

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Both local measures C & K passed. Pollock Pines Elementary School District Measure K (Gen. Obligation Bond) needed 55% to pass and won with 62%. El Dorado County Charter Measure C (Procurement of Services) Squeaked by with just 51%.