Brown edges out Pier for supes seat

Less than three weeks after a record number of Sonoma County voters cast their 2008 ballots, incumbent First District Supervisor Valerie Brown has defeated challenger Will Pier by a 2.8 percent margin.
The final tally, certified just before 6:15 p.m. yesterday, shows Brown ahead of Pier by 23,912 (51.4 percent) to 22,615 (48.6 percent).
Three other local races were also close, but the totals hadn’t changed much since the initial Nov. 4 count. Of the four candidates vying for three seats on the Sonoma Valley Health Care District board, challengers Peter Hohorst and Madolyn Agrimonti will be joining incumbent Bill Boerum with respective tallies of 9,360 (30.5 percent), 7,327 (23.9 percent) and 7,135 (23.3 percent), beating challenger Bill Gurry’s 6,861 votes (22.4 percent).
For the Area 1 seat on the Sonoma County Board of Education, newcomer Alexander Bantis defeated longtime incumbent John Musilli by 13,981 (50.7 percent) to 13,599 (49.3 percent). Incumbent Valley of the Moon Fire Protection District boardmembers Dawn Mittleman, Bill Norton and Ray Brunton will also re-take their seats over challenger Elissa Wadleigh. Final totals in that race were Mittleman at 5,038 votes (29.7 percent), Norton at 4,866 votes (28.7 percent), Brunton at 4,465 votes (26.3 percent) and Wadleigh with 2,605 votes (15.3 percent).