EDC gets new supe; no surprises for Tahoe reps

By Kathryn Reed

El Dorado County’s newest supervisor is John Hidahl.

Hidahl, who recently retired after 40 years in the aerospace industry, soundly defeated Beth Gaines. He had nearly 58 percent of the vote on Nov. 8, while she had just more than 42 percent.

Hidahl replaces Ron Mikulaco in District 1. Mikulaco was running for a seat on the board of the El Dorado Hills County Water-Fire district. He came in third out of four candidates, with the top two winning a seat.

Gaines is the representative for the 6th Assembly District, which encompasses the western edge of El Dorado and Placer counties. She has already declared her intentions to run for her husband’s state Senate seat in two years. Ted and Beth Gaines have a history of changing statewide seats and moving to accommodate vacancies.

On Tuesday, in the race to replace Gaines for the Assembly seat, it was Republican Kevin Kiley who prevailed over Democrat Brain Caples, 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent.

Ted Gaines easily retained his Senate seat by beating challenger Rob Rowen, 53.15 percent to 36.85 percent.

In the Assembly District 5 race Republican Frank Bigelow keeps his job. The district includes the South Shore, most of El Dorado County and goes south along the Nevada border to include Mammoth. He garnered 64.3 percent of the vote compared to Democrat Robert Carabas’ 35.7 percent

In Congress, the California side of Lake Tahoe will continue to be represented by Republican Tom McClintock.

Not all former El Dorado County supervisors failed at their next election. John Knight is now going to be on the Los Rios Community College District board.