County supervisor candidates to meet at Tea Party forum

Candidates running for Merced County’s board of supervisors hope to win support from voters tonight when they meet at a forum being organized by the Merced-Atwater Tea Party Patriots.

Organizer Rick Wendling says eight of the 11 candidates have committed to being at tonight’s forum, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.

District 1 challenger Rodrigo Espinoza has said he will be there, as have the two challengers for the District 2 seat - Lee Lor and Casey Steed. Wendling says the two incumbents in those races, John Pedrozo and Hub Walsh said they could not attend due to schedule conflicts.

Four of the five candidates seeking the open District 4 seat have said they will attend. They are Fidel Cervantes, Paul Dunn, Rich Ford, Lloyd Pareira and Ramon Prado. Wendling says candidate Jack Mobley is unable to attend due to a schedule conflict.

The free event will be held at the VFW Memorial Hall in Atwater at 1390 Broadway Ave.

Three of Merced County’s five board of supervisors seats are up for election when voters go to the polls on June 7. The supervisors preside over the county by setting the annual budget, appointing members to commissions and committees, name department heads and oversee county programs and functions.

Wendling said the forum is a service to help voters hear directly from the candidates.

“The more you get your word out, the more chances we’ll get the best supervisor we can,” he said.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 10:43 AM with the headline "County supervisor candidates to meet at Tea Party forum."