Supervisor Stone's Temporary Replacement Named

By City News Service:

Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley was appointed Monday to serve as interim oversight agent for the county’s Third District, which will not have a supervisorial representative until the governor appoints someone to fill the vacancy left by outgoing Supervisor Jeff Stone.

Stone was elected to the state Legislature in the Nov. 4 general election and will be formally ending his Board of Supervisors’ service on Nov. 30. He’ll leave soon thereafter for the state capital, where he will represent the newly created 28th Senate District.

“I want to thank Supervisor Ashley for stepping up and helping us out,” the outgoing board chairman said ahead of the 3-0 vote cementing Ashley’s appointment. “I’m obviously concerned for my constituents. I know the dedication of the board to do what it can to (meet their needs).”

Ashley said he would be seeking assistance from other offices “fairly quickly” to ensure that issues impacting the Third District aren’t neglected. Ashley has represented the neighboring Fifth District for 11 years.

The board vice chairman was also tapped in September 2009 to act as oversight agent for the Fourth District, following the death of longtime Supervisor Roy Wilson. Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took more than two months to appoint John Benoit -- Wilson’s chosen successor, then serving as a state senator -- to fill the Fourth District seat.

“That was a really traumatic period,” Ashley recalled. “Fortunately, that’s not the case here.”

The supervisor said he was confident Gov. Jerry Brown would appoint a “qualified person” to finish out Stone’s term, which expires in June 2016.

“I just hope the governor moves quickly,” he said.

Evan Westrup, with the governor’s office, told City News Service that several undisclosed candidates were “being considered” for appointment to the Third District seat.

“Our focus is appointing the best possible candidate,” Westrup said. “That ultimately dictates timing.”

In 2010, as a direct result of the disruptions that ensued after Wilson’s death, the board briefly considered asking voters to approve a one- item charter establishing provisions for board members to select who would serve among them if a colleague were to pass away, resign or otherwise leave office.

The concept was dropped for lack of support.