Final vote count confirms runoff election needed for state senate seat

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• Democrat John Laird says he won't run for California Senate in 2012

  Democrat John Laird says he won't run for California Senate in 2012

  John Laird, who lost his race against Sam Blakeslee for California Senate last year, announced today that he will not run for the seat in 2012, saying he does not want to leave his job as state secretary of natural resources.

  Laird, a Santa Cruz environmentalist who served in the California Assembly, said Gov. Jerry Brown had appointed him to the statewide post in January and “there is much to do” in “protecting and restoring the state’s natural resources.”

  “I cannot walk away ... right now, given the difficult times we face in California,” he said.

• Democrat Bill Monning says he'll run for Sam Blakeslee's Senate seat

  Democrat Bill Monning says he'll run for Sam Blakeslee's Senate seat

  Democratic Assemblyman Bill Monning announced Monday that he will run for the state Senate seat now held by San Luis Obispo Republican Sam Blakeslee.

  Monning, from Santa Cruz, waited until the California Redistricting Commission formalized new boundaries for the 17th Senate District before announcing. The district is currently called the 16th.

  The new district includes Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties and portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties. But it excludes northern Santa Barbara County, a GOP stronghold that voted heavily for Blakeslee in 2010.

• Sam Blakeslee not running for re-election after court decision on California Senate maps

  Sam Blakeslee not running for re-election after court decision on California Senate maps

  State Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, made it official Friday night that he will not seek another term in the wake of the California Supreme Court decision to uphold the Senate maps drawn last year by an independent redistricting commission.

  The high court announced its unanimous decision that the Senate map drawn by the commission should be used in the June primary and November general election, even though an initiative challenging the map is expected to qualify for the ballot.

  Blakeslee told The Tribune in a December interview that he likely would not seek re-election if the court so ruled because the district map, as drawn, strongly favored Democrats over Republicans in party registration.

• Blakeslee of SLO may not seek re-election

  Blakeslee of SLO may not seek re-election

  If the California Supreme Court upholds redistricting boundaries hammered out by a voter-mandated citizens’ commission, Republican Sam Blakeslee said he likely won’t run for a second term in November as state senator of the 15th District.

  A GOP-backed referendum to overturn the boundaries is pending at the California Secretary of State’s Office. It could qualify for an upcoming ballot, but probably not in time for the June primary or November general election. The Supreme Court this month could decide what Senate districts to use in those elections.

  If the court chooses the redistricting commission’s lines, Blakeslee’s district would include more of liberal Santa Cruz County while losing conservative-leaning northern Santa Barbara County.

• Debbie Arnold says she'll again take on Jim Patterson for 5th District supervisor

  Debbie Arnold says she'll again take on Jim Patterson for 5th District supervisor

  Debbie Arnold, who narrowly lost to Jim Patterson in the 2008 election for San Luis Obispo County's 5th District supervisor, announced today that she will challenge him again next year.

  Until Thursday, Arnold worked in the San Luis Obispo office of state Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. She left her position as a field representative to focus on her own campaign.

  Arnold, 56, is from a Pozo ranching family that grows hay, beef cattle and wine grapes. She operated a preschool in Atascadero for 17 years and had worked for Blakeslee since he won election to the state Assembly in 2004.