FRESNO COUNTY – On the ballot this November includes candidates for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, which acts as the governing body for Fresno County’s unincorporated communities and county-provided services.
The Board of Supervisors is made up of five residents who each represent a specific district in the county. Board members are elected to four-year staggered terms, with no term limits. The Board is the governing body to all countywide services, which includes law enforcement, property records and tax collection, public health, social services, elections administration and more.Â
This year, three Board of Supervisors seats — Districts 2, 3 and 5 — are up for election; however, only two races will be on the November ballot. District 5 Supervisor Nathan Magsig secured reelection in the March primary after receiving 70.9% of the vote over challenger Jennifer Cruz’s 29.1%.Â
In District 2, Garry Bredefeld, who currently serves on the Fresno City Council, is running against incumbent Steve Brandau. District 2 is densely populated and covers the central north portion of the county, including north Fresno, north Clovis west of Minnewawa Avenue and the neighborhoods of Fig Garden, Fashion Fair, Manchester, Pinedale, River Park, San Joaquin River and Woodward Park.
California voters can use the Secretary of State’s online voter registration tool at registertovote.ca.gov to register to vote or check their status. Voters in Fresno County can use an online district lookup tool through their respective county elections office to enter their address and find what Congressional, state, county and city districts they live in.
Bredefeld and Brandau moved on to the November election after being the top two vote-getters in the March primary earlier this year. Bredefeld came away with 37.8% of the vote and Brandau received 28.1%. Candidates Paul Dictos, Bryce Herrera and Dion Bourdase did not advance to the general election. Dictos received 16% of the vote in the primary, Herrera received 10.3% and Bourdase 7.7%.Â
Bredefeld spoke with Mineral King Publishing about his background and his goals for the next four years if he is elected Nov. 5. Interview responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Fresno County Board of Supervisors
District 2 - March primary results
Garry Bredefeld*
Steve Brandau*
Paul Dictos
Bryce Herrera
Dion Bourdase
Q: What is your background?Â
BREDEFELD: I am a clinical psychologist, now retired. Worked in the private sector for 35 years, also worked 27 years part-time at the Veterans Hospital in Fresno. I am also a veteran, having served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant from 1985 to 1988. I ran for office (city council) the first time in 1997, won the first (term) in 1997 to 2001 and then was out of politics for 16 years. I was raising my family and, of course, continuing to work in the private sector, as well as at the VA, and then decided to run for the city council, same seat, eight years ago and was successful, and have been representing my constituents in northeast Fresno since that time.
Q: What do you hope to change or accomplish in the next four years?Â
BREDEFELD: I intend to bring real change, transparency and accountability, all three qualities that have been missing from the board for some time. There needs to be change in terms of focusing on law enforcement, creating the staffing levels in the Sheriff’s Department (with) deputy sheriffs as well as with correctional officers, as well as getting more prosecutors, public defenders.Â
We need more staffing with the Department of Social Services, improving child protective services and ensuring that our children are safe throughout the county. So there’s a lot of work to be done. It often has been ignored, and it will no longer be ignored when I’m there.Â
Q: Who is supporting/endorsing your campaign? Who are the major funders of your campaign?Â
BREDEFELD: We have hundreds of donors — in contrast to my opponent — so we have a broad-based support in terms of endorsements. (I’ve) been endorsed by many of the labor groups throughout the county and city, also the Fresno Firefighters Association, Mayor Jerry Dyer and local leaders on the Fresno City Council.Â
What is most important to me is not the public endorsements of public officials, but winning the support, and frankly the endorsement, of the people I want to represent. That’s really what matters most to me, and so that’s why we’re working hard walking precincts nearly every day.Â
I have been to nearly 20,000 homes because I started walking in March or April of last year. I walk about 30 miles a week, and we’ve got nearly the entire district walked, which encompasses northeast Fresno, Northwest Fresno, central Fresno and part of Clovis to Minnewawa.
Q: What do you see as the top three issues facing the county right now? What would you do to address those issues?Â
BREDEFELD: The top issues are always ensuring the safety of the community, and that will be increasing the levels that I mentioned before in terms of law enforcement personnel and correctional facilities, prosecutors, public defenders and deputy sheriffs. Those levels are not where they need to be, and so that will be a primary focus for me.Â
Secondary focus will be ensuring that our kids are safe, that services that are needed to be provided by the county are being provided in an efficient and an effective way. No longer will we have foster children sleeping on floors.Â
The needle crack pipe drug exchange program that they have operating within the county system where they’re handing out 20,000 needles and crack pipes to drug addicts every week — one million in Fresno County — is not something that I’m going to be OK with and have been publicly speaking out against it. Being a board member, should I be successful, I will vigorously be working to end that program in the county. That is another way of just facilitating drug use in Fresno County. It’s an outrageous, destructive program, and the Board of Supervisors have done nothing to end that program, and I will be working to end it.Â
The third thing is economic development, making sure that the county provides all the resources, reduces all the regulations and provides all the support necessary for the private sector to be successful, (and) to continue to enhance our economic development. To make sure the rural areas receive the support, the farming community receives the support from the county. I’ve always been a very strong advocate for the private sector, capitalism and the economy.
Q: Fresno County cities are struggling to find the resources to support homeless individuals in their communities. What would you do on the board of supervisors to help cities address this?
BREDEFELD: First of all, they can work with the cities, which they don’t do at all. The city of Fresno needs the support of the Department of Social Services and the leadership from the Board of Supervisors to work in a collaborative effort to deal with the homeless.Â
The city of Fresno is often doing it on its own, providing what we call wraparound services for the homeless and not getting a great deal of support from the county. That is also going to change when I get on the board. We are going to be, at the county, assisting all cities within the county in dealing with the homeless population. That is all going to change when I get there.
Q: Anything else to add?
BREDEFELD: Nope, that’s it.
