Laguna Niguel 2012 Election Guide

Here's a rundown of candidates in Tuesday's election.

Laguna Niguel City Council

It is finally Election Day and Laguna Niguel Patch is devoted to bringing you the information you need about every race in town. Here is information on the local City Council race and candidates we will be covering. 

The Laguna Niguel City Council has three open seats. Those seats belonging to Councilman Gary Capata and Mayor Paul Glaab will be up for grabs this election cycle. Both have termed out and cannot run again until 2014. Councilwoman Linda Lindholm and Councilman Robert Ming's terms are up in 2014. Councilman Joe Brown opted not to run again.

LOCAL: Those running for City Council

Brad Barber

Laurie Davies

Tony English

Jerry McCloskey

Jerry Slusiewicz

Click here for Dana Point candidates running for City Council.

Congressional

In the 49th Congressional District (which includes San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point), Republican Darrell Issa will go up against Democrat Jerry Tetalman.

In the 48th Congressional District (which stretches from Seal Beach to Aliso Viejo), Republican Dana Rohrabacher will be up against Democrat Ron Varasteh.

United States Senate

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) faces Republican Challenger Elizabeth Emken in the race to represent California. One of the most entrenched incumbents in the senate, Feinstein has a whopping fundraising lead with $9,148,030 to Emken’s $676,726. Emken currently lives in Northern California, but she grew up in Orange County.

State Assembly

In the 73rd Assembly District, incumbent Diane Harkey again squares off against Jim Corbett, a teacher at Capistrano Valley High School known for his First Amendment fight with a student.

Capistrano Unified School District

Capistrano Unified School District

The Capistrano Unified School District will have four trustee seats open. Two are held by John Alpay and Gary Pritchard, who were just elected in 2010 when the voters recalled two sitting trustees.

When the board redrew the boundaries for the trustee areas, Trustee Sue Palazzo's residence was not included in her area, so she can not run for re-election and has said she wasn't planning to, anyway.

Trustee Jack Brick is the other trustee whose seat is up this year. He has decided not to run.

This is the first year where voters can only vote for one trustee because of the passage of Measure H in the 2010 election.

So, two of the seats open this year include parts of Laguna Niguel in the trustee areas. These are the candidates in Trustee Area No. 1:

• Karin Schnell
• Amy Hanacek

After Michele Taylor-Bible dropped out, thre candidates remained in Trustee Area No. 2:

• Carol McCormick
• Don Franklin Richardson
• Jim Reardon

Review Patch's coverage here:

• http://lagunaniguel-danapoint.patch.com/articles/election-results-capistrano-unified
• Alpay's Deceptive Website Comes Down
• Dad Says School Board Member Threatened Him
• Group Demands Trustee Alpay Take Down Misleading Website
• Fact-Checking School Board Races
• CUSD Trustee Alpay Behind One of the Misleading Domain Names
• Children First Releases Receipt in Deceptive Website Dustup
• Deceptive Campaign Websites Tied to Children First Volunteer
• More than $100K Spent in CUSD Races
• Who's Endorsing Whom for Capo Unified

Congress

California Ballot Propositions

Prop 30: Temporary Taxes to Fund Education

Prop 31: State Budget Process

Prop 32: Political Contributions by Payroll Deductions

Prop 33: Auto Insurance Rates

Prop 34: Death Penalty Repeal

Prop 35: Human Trafficking/Sex Offender Penalties

Prop 36: Three Strikes Law

Prop 37: Genetically Modified Foods

Prop 38: Tax to Fund Education and Early Childhood Programs  

Prop 39: Multistate Business Tax

Prop 40: Redistricting

Other Articles

Be sure to check out our past coverage of elections by clicking on the link below and bookmark this page for updates.

Additionally, you can click here for related election stories, as well as the links below.

http://lagunaniguel-danapoint.patch.com/articles/residents-exercise-their-right-to-vote#photo-12031982

http://lagunaniguel-danapoint.patch.com/articles/ln-city-hall-prepares-the-ballot-booths-on-monday#photo-12054981

http://lagunaniguel-danapoint.patch.com/articles/take-this-quiz-does-obama-or-romney-best-match-your-stance

http://lagunaniguel.patch.com/articles/election-fraud-suggests-birther-orly-taitz

http://lagunaniguel.patch.com/articles/resident-orly-taitz-how-shes-paying-for-senate-bid

http://lagunaniguel.patch.com/articles/interview-dr-orly-taitz#photo-10134632

http://lagunaniguel.patch.com/articles/laguna-niguels-birther-taitz-seeks-to-remove-obama-from-kansas-ballot