Clear Contrasts Between 2nd District Candidates

At least voters in Tuolumne County´s second district can´t say they don´t have a choice.

The supervisor´s race between incumbent Don Ratzlaff and Paolo Maffei has been heated, contentious and controversial. Ratzlaff supporters even hired a private investigator at one point to see if the Swiss-born Maffei was actually a U.S. citizen.

When they faced off in a 90-minute debate in the KVML studio Wednesday, they again made the differences between them clear.

Ratzlaff voted for the original Mountain Springs housing development. Maffei opposed it.

Maffei helped create Voter´s Choice and collect signatures to put the Mountain Springs project to a popular vote. Ratzlaff opposes and is opposed by Voter´s Choice.

Ratzlaff says Maffei is a no-growth, one-issue candidate who belongs to the Sierra Club and other environmental groups and favors legalizing drugs. If Maffei is elected, this is what Ratzlaff says will happen:

“We´re gonna see no growth, less growth, less money, less funding,” Ratzlaff said.

Maffei says Ratzlaff has based his entire campaign on personal attacks and is a less-than-part-time supervisor. He says Ratzlaff is too cosy with developers.

“His idea of private property rights? The bigger the developer, the more the rights,” Maffei said.

Between them, the two have spent more than $30,000 during the campaign.