Another SLO County political figure is running for District 5 supervisor. Here’s who
The race for the San Luis Obispo County District 5 Board of Supervisors seat is getting crowded.
Santa Margarita resident Erik Gorham has thrown his hat in the ring, joining Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno and Mayor Pro-Tem Susan Funk in competition for the seat.
The trio is running to replace Supervisor Debbie Arnold on the board to represent District 5, which includes Atascadero, Santa Margarita, Garden Farms, the Carrizo Plain, and parts of Cal Poly and Templeton.
Arnold confirmed that she won’t run for re-election in 2024, noting that she will still represent her constituents until her term ends in January 2025.
“I’ve served three terms,” Arnold told The Tribune. “Shortly after my term ends, I’ll be celebrating my 70th birthday, and I just feel like slowing things down a little bit.”
Arnold endorsed Moreno for District 5 supervisor, she told The Tribune.
Who are the District 5 Board of Supervisor candidates?
In March, District 5 voters will have the chance to vote for one of three candidates to represent them on the Board of Supervisors.
This isn’t Gorham’s first engagement with county politics. He’s a voting member of the San Luis Obispo County Republican Party, and he managed Bruce Jones’ campaign for the District 2 seat. He also is a landscaper and owns a natural fertilizer business.
“I come from a multi-generational family here, and this county actually does mean a lot to me,” Gorham said. “I’m not here to throw a bunch of stones at people, but over the last eight years and currently, I haven’t seen great leadership in our county and I think I can lead us in a good direction.”
Gorham said he’d take a slightly different approach to homelessness than the current board, pursuing shipping containers as temporary housing instead of palette shelters. He also said he’d focus on treating water in the North County as a constitutional right, and work on policy that ensures that small farms have access to water.
Additionally, Gorham would update the permitting process to make it easier to build housing, make budget cuts, and hire more county staff. He also said he would prioritize collaborating with different stakeholders in the county if elected.
“Leadership in a county position when you’re an elected is listening to everybody and trying to get the best things done for the county,” Gorham said.
Funk, who was elected to Atascadero City Council in 2018, also said she would prioritize collaboration on the board if elected.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me to take a look at this because they’ve seen what I’m able to do in getting people to work together, collaboratively, across a big range of political spectrum,” she told The Tribune in April.
Funk said she would prioritize addressing homelessness, and she’s the chair of the San Luis Obispo County Homeless Services Oversight Council, a group that helped the county develop its five-year plan to reduce homelessness by half.
She would also expand affordable housing, support tourism and economic development, sustainable water use and public safety, she said .
Moreno also prioritizes public safety, according to a news release from her campaign in April.
Moreno, a certified public accountant and businesswoman, was appointed to the City Council in 2012, and later elected mayor of Atascadero in 2018 — going on to serve three terms.
“Under Moreno’s leadership, the city of Atascadero fully funded and staffed its Police Department, invested in infrastructure repairs and improvements, worked collaboratively with community organizations to help tackle the homelessness crisis and brought new jobs and economic development to the city,” the release said.
This story was originally published May 19, 2023 at 9:00 AM.
CORRECTION: A former version of this story incorrectly stated Erik Gorham’s place of residence. The story has been updated to reflect that Gorham lives in Santa Margarita.
