Will Real Auto Mall Please Stand Up
Serpa Will Take Saturn To South Ben Maddox

Visalia - Visalia car dealer Frank Serpa has filed plans with the city for a 3 acre Saturn dealership to be located on Ben Maddox south of 198.

Already Serpa owns a 1.25 acre pie shaped piece next to the 3 acres that he is buying from Saturn. In addition he is breaking ground this month on a Kia dealership on the 1.25 acres right across the street from Mary’s Vineyard. That essentially makes all of the west side of Ben Maddox from Noble to Tulare Ave. car dealer row, anchored on the south by Giant Automotive.

You add the 15 acre auto mall across the freeway “and you really have a big strip of car choices where buyers can come to one location,” says Mr. Serpa.

But wait. Don’t Visalia car dealers want a west Visalia auto mall more visible from the freeway out by Plaza and 198?

That project is being proposed by builders Andy and Craig Mangano that has at least two car dealers, Mooney Blvd’s Frank Surroz (who leases his current site) who has committed to that site bringing in Dodge, BMW and Jeep to a westside “Auto Plaza” along with Giant Automotive.

The project is undergoing a full Environmental Impact Report right now because it will require rezoning ag land into commercial.

Sounds like dueling auto malls, no? Does anybody remember “car wars”?

Consultant on the westside Visalia Auto Plaza, Bob Dowds, says Giant’s Jack Petty is “in escrow” to relocate his Chevrolet and Cadillac dealerships to a yet to be agreed upon site within the plaza. Realtor Marty Zeeb represents Mr. Petty and says Jack “has some idea to reuse his current dealership - but not for automobile sales.” Petty’s current showroom he built on Ben Maddox is only 3 years old.

He says Petty would seek 7 to 10 acres at the new westside auto district. It has been argues by those that favor a big westside auto mall that there is neither the visibility or the room to expand in the future on the eastside. Total acreage of the new Plaza Dr. mall would be some 70 acres.

Count Me Out

Whatever Jack Petty of Giant does, don’t count Ben Maddox dealer Don Groppetti as part of any plans for west Visalia, says Mr. Groppetti who bought a number of Main St. lots from Mr. Zarounian and is in the process of buying the last undeveloped dirt lot east of his Toyota dealership to be completed in July, he says.

“We’ll have over 6 and ½ acres for Toyota here” when the transaction is complete. Groppetti says the Serpa deal “is a pleasant surprise and good news that we will keep the synergy here on Ben Maddox.”

Groppetti will have 11 and ½ acres at the mall. In addition he leases the old Putnam Windh dealership on Burke and Noble a few blocks to the west.

Groppetti seconds Serpa’s notion that an eastside auto mall will serve lots of buyers in the future no matter what happens out on Plaza Dr.

“We have the top three Japanese makes over here - Toyota, Nissan, Honda - and we know that with these lines we can generate the traffic.”

Mr. Serpa says his new dealership will go up fast and expects he will be selling Kias at his new site in 4 months and selling new Saturns in 6 months.

Serpa said he bid for the Saturn dealership against others and won out due to his record of high customer satisfaction, availability of capital and his track record in the marketplace as a high volume dealer.

Serpa acknowledges that pressure from the manufacturers wanting a separate car showroom from Serpa’s other lineups is part of the reason he is looking for more dirt. “Some manufacturers say they will finance a new showroom” as well he says.

The development will set up a sort of musical chairs for Serpa’s other car lines at the auto mall including moving Hyundai to Ben Maddox and Suzuki over to Mineral King where the manufacturer will also help to build a new facade showroom, he says. Serpa’s VW and Daewoo will stay on Ben Maddox although with GM’s purchase of the Daewoo company, he says the cars are expected to soon be in GM showrooms.

No Haggle

Serpa says Saturn “will be a popular line because of its “no haggle policy” with an increased line of car styles including a new larger car - L300 and an SUV. “We were told that about 10% of Saturn sales in Fresno come from the Visalia area,” says Serpa.

He wants to get the word out that existing Saturn car owners will now be able to get their car serviced locally. Serpa predicts sales of as many as 1000 Saturns by the second year of operation. He says he has been watching the progress of a west 198 auto mall and “even said they might take one of spots when it was proposed out on Akers. “Then they moved it to Shirk and now to Plaza - that’s too far out.”

In the meantime, the long wait for approvals have hurt chances to fill the proposed westside mall with eastside dealers, it appears. “I had to move on this sale of Saturn - I had no time to lose.”

Saturn had bought land at the same time Mr. Petty bought the site for Giant next door but the company never moved forward on what appeared to be a plan for a manufacturer-owned dealership. Sources say recently Saturn was working with an out of town potential buyer who was considering moving it to the new west side auto mall but did not follow through.

The Mangano brothers are saying they expect to be under construction of the westside mall next spring with opening in June 2004.

Bob Dowds says the current EIR comment period is up in early July with the public hearing in front of the planning commission likely in August followed by city council hearings. At the moment city council’s sentiment approval on the westside project appears favorable.

But just what players will join the westside party isn’t clear. The big local player yet to make a commitment is Razzari Ford Mitsubishi, located in Downtown Visalia. Mr. Tim Razzari, who operates his Merced dealership along Highway 99, likes a highway location here but offers no sign he is ready to do anything.

So it appears reports of the death of Ben Maddox auto mall are premature. Mr. Groppetti hints that there will be other announcements to come. One possibility is that Honda will relocate someplace new nearby.

If the new auto mall on the town’s westside is approved by city council later this summer, dealers Groppetti and Serpa say they will explore joint marketing of the eastside district including a long simmering plan for a major freeway visible “Visalia Auto Mall” sign to help bring the shoppers in. In addition, a plan to expand the Ben Maddox bridge over 198 is in the works that may help connect the auto mall district and make it more convenient in the future.

Seems like Visalia can’t get away from “car wars” even though former Toyota dealer Mr. Thomas has long left the town.

While the proponents of new auto malls tout their success, some research suggests otherwise. An article in the Wall Street Journal this week is case in point. The article suggests there is resurgence of interest in the concept although one study done by Saubach Co. found in 1997 that 8 out of 10 auto malls are financial failures for the real estate development who put them together.

Increase in Sales

But Dowds point out that this plan is simply a response to the competition all Visalia car dealers face from well organized dealers in nearby towns like the Selma Auto Mall up the freeway. What’s new in 2003 is that car makers are eager to help build new showrooms for dealers and even provide incentives to do so, says the Journal article. Car dealers like Jack Petty and Frank Surroz are betting on double digit gains in sales from the move. Research from a consultant hired by the Manganos predicts the increase in sales.

Eastside auto dealers who have a long time investment to protect have their own convincing arguments to stick and stay. Groppetti and Serpa are each the largest advertisers in the Visalia auto market and are tops in sales in the marketplace as well. Customers will beat a path to their door to buy the top imports for example, whose market share annually has risen even as domestic car makes have fallen. In a second Wall Street Journal article this week, the paper pointed out that as of May 2003 the three Japanese companies market share grew to 24.6% of the US market up from 22.4% a year ago and Detroit’s big three dropped from 61.2% to 60.3% over the same period.

Dowds says he believes there are other players waiting for a city council decision whether to approve the project before making commitments including some new franchises who might come in.

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Kaweah Delta Ready To Add 31 Beds

Visalia - Strapped for space to put patients, Kaweah Delta Health Care District is opening 31 new beds in the 3 West wing of the hospital on June 17, says CEO Lindsay Mann. This wing has never been used for surgical or acute care patients having most recently been the home of the hospital’s transitional care unit - long term patients that now are in the district’s Court St. Community Health Center.

Planning of the remodel of this wing of the hospital started about a year ago, says Mann and state approvals and plans to staff the added beds have slowed the process.

“We just hired 30 new COS nursing students this week,” says Mann, among 70 new RN’s and other professionals the hospital was orienting this week. To staff the added beds at Kaweah Delta will fill about 5 beds every two months, says Mann, until patients occupy all 31. In the meantime, other remodeling will go forward on the 2 North wing.

Remodeling and upgrading the older hospital building is the short term strategy to meet an increasing demand as the district moves forward on the long term strategy of essentially replacing the existing hospital with new towers being planned downtown, Mann says.

Mann says the growth in population here and closing of a number of other hospitals and their emergency rooms have pushed capacity at KD. “There’s no doubt for a city our size we are one of the most if not the busiest ER’s in the state,” says Mann.

Physicians and patients have had to, on occasion, seek beds at other hospitals because Kaweah Delta was full.

Since 1990 the number of visits for the ER has gone up from around 40,000 a year to over 62,000 currently.

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Farm Advisor Sees Future For Tropical Fruit

Tulare County- Tulare County farm advisor Manuel Jimenez who helped introduce small farmers in the Central Valley to the possibility of growing blueberries a few years ago, says he feels happy to see about 1000 acres of the tasty berries being grown in the Valley this June. “There’s probably a couple of thousand people who have jobs picking the fruit right now,” says Jimenez who developed the variety that could tolerate valley weather at the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center near Parlier.

Now Jimenez is heading into unchartered territory with the announcement that he has successfully grown dwarf papaya trees at the Parlier station featuring the big tasty tropical fruit. He sees the possibility some small growers could get into papaya production in the valley selling in the store these days at $1 to $2 per lb. “The trees are 4 feet tall but full of fruit,” he says. He started the plantings in a greenhouse and transferred to the ground in spring and harvests in the fall.

Jimenez believes there are other opportunities in tropical fruit to be grown commercially in the valley that may surprise you. “Depending on how much income they bring in, we can grow anything,” says Jimenez. “We could grow bananas,” he says, but other fruit may be more practical including guava. “People already grow this tasty fruit in their backyards,” says Jimenez. And mangos, “we are experimenting right now with dwarf mangos.” Small niche market items like a tamarillo - a tomato fruit is sold in the supermarkets today at $2.50 each, Jimenez says.

Growing specialty crops can be like shooting at a moving target, farm advisors say. When a new crop proves successful, it’s not long before more farmers jump in and a glut forces prices down. That has UCCE’s small-scale farm advisors continuously searching the globe and field-testing new ideas to share with California growers.

Six UCCE farm advisors visited the state of Veracruz, Mexico, May 19-23, 2003, to study crops and growing methods for a wide array of exotic fruit, including mangos, tamarind, pineapple, soursap, zapote, cashew fruit, vanilla, papaya, mangosteen and lychee. Despite the vast difference in climate, many have potential for California farms and greenhouses.

“Papaya is very inexpensive to grow, even when compared to traditional vegetables, such as squash,” Jimenez says. In contrast, blueberry, an increasingly popular specialty crop, is “outrageously expensive to start,” he said.

Papayas don’t seem to mind Central California’s warm summer sun, and even though Jimenez’s first crop at the Research and Extension Center didn’t ripen last year, he is not deterred. Unripe papayas are suitable for cooking and popular with consumers of Asian descent. The unripe fruit may be baked like winter squash or pumpkin or used for chutney.

Most of the ripe papayas found in California grocery stores are imported from Hawaii or Mexico. The smooth-textured, vitamin C-rich melon-like fruit has yellow to orange flesh and skin color that ranges from green to orange to rose.

Commercial papaya production has been troubled worldwide by the plants’ high susceptibility to plant viruses. Most papayas grown in Hawaii are genetically modified to be resistant to disease. In Veracruz, Mexico’s No.1 papaya producing state and the site of the recent Mexico study tour, farmers are finding that growing the perennial tree as an annual crop helps alleviate viral losses.

At Rancho Neveria, a small farm near the Veracruz city of Cardel, agronomist Honorio Fernández spoke to the UC farm advisors from meticulous handwritten notes about the ranch’s annual papaya production system. Fernández outlined details from the soil mix for growing seedlings to plant spacing in the field. About 2,700 seedlings are transplanted per hectare. Before harvest, a quarter of the plants have been pulled due to viral infection. Nevertheless, the approximately 2,000 remaining plants produce a profitable crop before succumbing to disease.

At Rancho Neveria, plants are started in the screenhouse and field planted any time of year, giving farmers the option of aiming to market fruit at a time when prices are expected to be at their highest. In California, the climate gives farmers less flexibility. A typical San Joaquin Valley winter will kill the plant, squeezing the growing season between February and November. However, Jimenez says he will try to plant papaya in late summer, and then protect the small bush under a movable “hoop house,” which many vegetable producers already own.

“This is an exciting crop to grow,” Jimenez said. “I’d be happy to see a few farmers attempt a crop like papaya.”

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Bid Prices Fall On Local Road Projects

Tulare County- Tulare County road projects are coming in well under engineer’s estimates this month as the state budget crisis has canceled a number of projects around the state, according to local officials. That, in turn has squeezed contractors looking to keep their crews busy.

The proof of a very competitive atmosphere can be seen in this week’s contracts taken up by the Board of Supervisors approving two major contracts for road maintenance. In the case of a road striping project with an engineers estimate of nearly $625,000 the winning bid by Moreno’s Striping came in at around $343,000. In the case of larger re-asphalting project funded by federal funds the engineer estimate of $3.23 million came in at $2.55 million bid by Glen Wells Co.

“I was very surprised by the large differential our engineer’s estimate,” says James Blair assistant director for transportation for the county. “It’s very competitive out there.”

Down the Food Chain

Wells Construction owner Houston Wells says it’s true that the state budget cuts have hurt business. “I’d say the state has cut about 50% of their own projects,” says Wells and that has “every contractor at the higher end of the food chain to move down into the next guy’s territory.” Wells believes the state cuts on road money is short sighted. “What they are doing is simply putting a band-aid on road and bridge problems that will come back to haunt them later.”

Blair says the county will take the savings on the two projects and put them to use on the many other deferred maintenance projects on county roads. “We’ve got about 3000 miles of county roads and 400 of those miles we use contractors,” says Blair. The roads tend to be the high volume roads that get the most wear and tear.

Blair says two more federal projects earmarked for the county are likely for the end of summer that will also be put out to bid.

Tulare County has a $250 million backlog of road work needed so saving on existing projects has plenty of places to go. Even though the state budget cuts may make contractors more competitive, officials here worry that the cuts could mean a cut in $1 million of projects that they had hoped to get.

Half Million In Savings

County Redevelopment was pleasantly surprised in recent weeks when the big Betty Drive improvement plan off of Highway 99 came in over half a million lower than the engineer’s estimate, says Bill Hayter.

The agency has been spearheading the effort to improve the Betty Dr. road from Highway 99 in Goshen over to Rd. 80 helping to both speed truck traffic in the Visalia industrial park and get those trucks off of Goshen residential roads. Work on the long awaited project is starting this month and will be completed by December 1, says Hayter.

“We understand the cancellation of many of state road projects contracts due to the California budget crisis has made those bids more competitive.” Hayter is working to take the savings from the project and do full gutter and curb improvement along Betty Dr. “Kids will be able to walk from Goshen Ave. over the bridge to school on a sidewalk,” says Hayter, putting the savings to good use.

The Betty Dr. project will also benefit the city of Visalia who is helping to pay for it too because trucks will have better access to 99 from Riggin and Rd. 80. Riggin will be connected with Betty Dr. through a new diagonal connector funded through the phase one money for this project. The project has a 45% federal grant and 45% state loan backed by redevelopment. The idea is that with the new street the value of Goshen real estate will pay the funds back.

The project got funded in part because of the expected coming of the new Western Pacific Meat Packing slaughterhouse planned nearby - a project still on hold pending a court decision on the adequacy of the project’s EIR. That decision is expected in a matter of days.

The city of Visalia just bid a road project on McAuliff this week and it too, came in under estimate.

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Plunging Mortgage Rates

Visalia - Have you hugged your mortgage banker today? That's the question posed jokingly by Visalia Community Bank president Tom Beene this week in his speech on interest rates to the Visalia Rotary. No, please don't give him a hug, he says. Beene started his slide presentation on slide one - "Why do interest rates go up and down?" Slide two reads "Alan Greenspan." Slide three "The End."

You can thank low interest rates on the Fed's policy committee - Greenspan is the chairman - that regularly makes it easier or harder for banks to lend out money and controls the Treasury Department's sale of government bonds.

With the weakness in the national economy for the past few years the Fed has been making it more attractive to borrow money.

But the twist in recent months is that the economy appears to be getting stronger in the past few months as seen by a rise in the stock market indexes but interest rates on average continue to head south - into record territory.

A few years ago Visalia Community Bank was making 9% 30 year fixed residential loans that today are selling for 5.5%, says Beene. That is saving mortgage payers about $300 payment and around $100,000 in interest payments over the life of the loan.

In the past few weeks mortgage rates have continued to track lower for five weeks in a row even though the stock market and NASDAQ have been nicely higher.

"That's somewhat unusual," says Ron McGowan owner of Central Valley Mortgage of Visalia. "They often go in opposite directions."

Now there is expectation that Greenspan will cut the Fed funds rate later in June. But McGowan says mortgage rates will be less affected by a Fed funds rate. "Look at the 5 and 10 year bond rates" to understand where mortgage rates are going, says McGowan.

Mortgage rates are about as low as they were in the late 50s based on the benchmark 10-year Treasure note that typically is about 2 percentage points lower that mortgage rates on a 30 year fixed loan. That difference is called the spread - charged as interest on home loans and packaged to investors who buy the loans. Local banks typically don't keep those loans, they sell them as mortgage backed securities.

Using the 2% spread rule this week, the 10-year bond is down to 3.2 at press time putting mortgage rates at about 5.2%. If you are watching rates watch the 10 year notes in your newspaper or the web at Yahoo Finance, for example.

Because of competition and demand you can sometimes do better than that if you pay points - an extra fee to get a loan.

"There is no free lunch on home loans," says McGowan noting that if you are quoted a below market rate on a loan - like a 4.5% 30 year fixed rate - you will have to pay an extra point or so to get it - that's cash up front to get your loan. That fee is also called an origination fee.

Mortgage broker Bruce Trout of Mortgage One of Visalia notes that some customers look at the interest rate only and don't take into account that while your payment may be lower, paying a few thousand extra to get the good interest rate builds up the amount you owe on your home loan.

Visalia brokers say business is booming right now in part because of demand for new homes, existing homes and refinancing of homes is all happening at the same time.

The refinance market is increasing because interest rates have dropped over a full point since the first of the year.

"We are seeing customers that are coming back to refinance for the fourth time," says Trout - because of the savings it offers. They are calling these people "serial refinancers."

You can throw out the old rule of thumb that you don't want to get a new loan unless it's 2% lower than your current loan, says Ron McGowan. "If your loan is 6 and ½ or above - you ought to look into refinancing." Last year at this time rates were about 6.8%.

"We are buried," says McGowan, "We're doing more volume than any of the 18 years I've been in business." McGowan suggests if you want to shop around for loan rates, do so with a filled out application and credit report in hand first. That's because when you are ready to lock in a rate you must be an approved borrower with whatever firm is quoting you rates. Rates are changing twice a day right now, say brokers.

A popular option these days is to go for a 15-year fixed loan where rates are about one half point lower and although your monthly payment is higher - you pay off your house twice as fast.

This week 30-year fixed rates are hovering around 5.2% and 15 year rates at 4.7%. That's nationally and California rates tend to be a little higher. A point of origination fee could bring that down somewhat.

Also there are even lower interest rates on short term fixed loans of 5 or 7 years that are fixed for that period before becoming adjustable rate mortgages over the full 30-year life of the loan. If you are planning to keep a house for only 7 years - about an average - then those low interest loans fixed at amazingly low rates - 4% for example - lower your monthly stroke.

Besides refinancing of existing homes, the boom nationwide and locally is fueling new home demand as well. The poor stock market in the past few years has fed a real estate boom on homes as people not only use their home as a place to live but to deposit equity. For some, home sweet home may become a piggy bank freeing up money for other expenditures.

Low home rates mean more people can qualify for bigger homes helping heat up the move up market as well, say local realtors.

For the first time in years Visalia homes have been steadily appreciating, says broker Brad Maaske. Real estate subdivision land quoted around 35,000 an acre two years ago is now going for $55,000 an acre in Visalia - still a bargain over $110,000 an acre in the hot Clovis market.

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Two thousand signatures from concerned Porterville residents were not enough to convince JC Penney to rebuild their burned down Main St. store in Downtown Porterville as both the property owner and city were informed by the Texas-based company that they weren't coming back. Sources say that may not in fact be the end of it and that Penney could open a store elsewhere in town if the right deal were struck.

Two high profile real estate auctions have been postponed. Shoshone Inn in Three Rivers faced the auctioneers gavel on the front steps of the Tulare courthouse this week but any possible sale was postponed for some 60 days says a Bank of Visalia official. Also the former Synanon property in Badger owned by Heritage Development Group - Muslim group - has been postponed until June 13 according to 1st American Title.

That was fast. The new VUSD elementary school - Oak Grove now under construction at Linwood and Ferguson - will be pressed into service this coming school year to make up for lack of room at Hurley School, says Mark Fulmer assistant superintendent. "It won't officially open as Oak Grove school in August but it will house 4 to 6 classrooms of Hurley school students." VUSD also named the new northeast school, also under construction - Four Creeks.

This week the Visalia city council rejected a plan to privatize the city's solid waste department voting 3 to 2 not to move forward on an RFP from private haulers. Council member Phil Cox argued in favor suggesting the city would not know how much saving there would be unless they bid it out. But others disagreed with Wendy Rudy suggesting that there are few complaints about the service and that continuing the study would unnecessarily concern the city staff who work in the program. But council suggested they might throw out the city's long time split container systems in favor of a 3 can system in the future.

Also this week, the Visalia city council voted to move forward on a plan to purchase land on Visalia's scenic corridor for setback and open space. The city staff report said they may buy 140 acres west of Akers over to Rd. 86. A citizens task force had been working on a plan for an ag enterprise zone for this area and told council that ag interests like fruits stands and wineries could be part of the open space plan also generating income. Council says they would appoint a commission on how to develop the corridor area - much of it in the county - much of it currently in ag - now over this summer with representatives of the citizens task force, planning commission and city council among those that would be included. The commission is to report back to the planning commission and council this fall with a final plan that would specify how much land and setback ought to be set aside. Once that plan is adopted it is expected that annexation of what could be well over 1000 acres of farmland on both sides of west 198 could begin and conversion of the land to urban uses move forward.

Farmer Tokkie Elliot has filed for a notice of non-renewal on his Williamson Act contract on the 400 plus acres his family owes west of Shirk and south of 198. The notice which starts a 10 year clock means that "eventually it will be developed," says Mr. Elliot, "we're still going to farm it as long as possible."

Because of the notice the city - doing some long term planning along west 198 will include the big piece in their plans.

Speaking of converting ag land, the city of Visalia is ready to move to open its urban boundary on all four quadrants of town by the end of the year. Council will hear a report from planner Steve Brandt on June 16th. Staff says land within the current boundary now shows about 13,000 acres that are designated for residential development and that now 9,800 of those acres are developed. The city's 2020 plan builds in a 30% flexibility factor that triggers the jump to the next boundary when the developed acreage reaches around 1000. That should happen later this year at the 20 acre per month rate we are currently at. Visalia subdivision activity has been hot recently and prices for subdivision land are said to be up from about $35,000 a few years ago to some $55,000 per acre today. But critics point out the city is looking to rezone substantial acreage within the development boundary for residential use in the future include a 700 home subdivision off Shirk. On average the city is building an average of 800 new homes a year so that rezoning one large parcel could satisfy nearly a year's worth of housing without opening the boundary and chewing up more farm land. Land to be annexed into the city boundary along west 198 is also not considered although the city clearly is planning that expansion as well. Besides residential the city plans to expand a 646 acre area at Plaza and Riggin as new industrial land as well, the biggest expansion area for new boundary plan - the southwest part of the city at 2,238 acres fed by Caldwell Ave.

Ralphs' parent company Kroger will enter the Visalia grocery business acquiring the Mooney Food For Less store in an auction of the bankrupt Fleming chain locations. Nine stores overall were auctioned with Save Mart ending up with the Food For Less location on Ben Maddox - to be named Food Maxx and the Kroger stores branded Foods Co. There is a new Foods Co. in Tulare and now there will be one in Visalia and in Hanford where the company picked up the Food For Less location on Lacey Blvd. as well. Now that Ralphs has entered the Visalia grocery business with a warehouse type store, the company is again looking for a location for a traditional Ralphs grocery store, say reliable sources. The Federal Trade Commission ruled that allowing Save Mart to acquire all nine remaining Food For Less stores would have allowed too much concentration in some markets - obviously Visalia where Save Mart will now have four outlets.

The vacant seat on the Board of Supervisors left by the election of Bill Maze to the Assembly last November still has not been filled by appointment to the position by Governor Davis despite rumors such an appointment is imminent. The top candidate is Democrat Lali Moheno. But the current Chief of Staff Brian Thoburn isn't waiting around to find out throwing his hat into the ring for the March 2004 election. Thoburn, 38, is a Republican from a Republican leaning town who would join a board with four other Republicans already in what is nevertheless a non-partisan position. Local Democrats are dumbfounded by Davis' slow pace that could give Moheno a chance to show leadership on the seat for a matter of months before she has to stand for election. Thoburn says he has the right qualifications for the job. He was former aid to Senator Ken Maddy through 1994. If Davis does make the appointment, Thoburn says he will resign his position as Chief of Staff to the Board of Supervisors to avoid any conflict while he is actively running for the seat.

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