When Orange voters fill out their ballots this November, they will potentially only weigh in on a single contested city office: Treasurer. The Mayor, three Councilmembers and the City Clerk will be automatically re-elected since no one filed to run against any of them when filing closed on August 8.
Mayor Dan Slater did not draw a challenger as he seeks a second two-year term.
Neither did Councilman Jon Dumitru (District 2), Councilwoman Kathy Tavoularis (District 3) and Councilwoman Ana Gutierrez – nor did City Clerk Pamela Coleman.
They will still appear on the ballot, unless the Orange City Council takes action to remove those uncontested offices from the ballot – unlikely since there is no cost savings in doing so.
Richard Rohm, who holds the largely powerless office of City Treasurer, isn’t running for re-election. Consequently, the filing deadline is extended by state law to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 14. So far two candidates – Garrett Smith and Eugene Fields – have filed to run for the office.
Smith has a background in finance and is a realtor with Orange Realty, which is Mayor Dan Slater’s realty firm. Smith is also an accomplished oboe player.
Fields is a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission and is public information officer for Santiago Canyon College. He is a Democrat activist and from 2018 to 2021 was communications manager for Council on American-Islamic Relations-CA, an organization that is radically anti-Israel.
Editor’s Note: an earlier version of this article stated the mayoral, council and City Clerk elections would be cancelled since the incumbents drew no opponents.
