Valerie Brown Steps Out of the Sonoma County Supervisors Race

Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown will not seek re-election, according to several reports in Sonoma County news media.

Brown made the announcement during a Tuesday Sonoma County Supervisors meeting, citing the demands of a campaign as the impetus for her decision to not run.

Beginning in politics as Sonoma City Council member and mayor, Brown also served for six years in California State Assembly.

Appointed by then Gov. Gray Davis to her Supervisors seat in 2002, Brown has successfully defended her seat for almost a decade.

This leaves the race for the represent the 1st District, which includes western Sonoma Vally and Santa Rosa, open to fresh blood: already several local candidates have thrown themselves into the race.

Gina Cuclis, a Boyes Hot Springs based public relations consultant and former Sonoma Planning Commissioner announced her candidacy several weeks ago, launching an interactive facebook page and campaign website.

Using her twitter account to announce her candidacy, Cuclis also used the forum to comment on Brown's repeated absences at Supervisor meetings.  

A second Sonoma Valley candidate, Mark Bramfitt, an energy consultant and board member on the Valley of the Moon Water District and Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission, threw his name into the race.

(Though the early fundraising reports show Cuclis in a just over $12,000-lead.)

Still, Brown has another 17-months in office to mourn her political departure.

“You taught me how to be a good public official. You taught me how to be a good public servant,” she said, according to the Press Democrat “This experience wouldn't have been the same without you.”

Sonoma Patch Sincerely Regrets: An earlier version of this article spelled Gina Cuclis' name incorrectly. It is Cuclis, not Cucilis.