Leonard, Bosacki, Bentley, Riley win seats

All Hesperia votes have been counted: Mayor Mike Leonard and Planning Commissioner Paul Bosacki have been elected to the Hesperia City Council, and candidates Chris Bentley and Anthony Riley have been elected to the Hesperia Unified School District school board.

The San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters published the results at 12:38 p.m. Wednesday, with votes from all Hesperia precincts now counted, including absentee and early voting results.

City council race

A retired firefighter, Leonard has won a second four-year term in office. Councilman Tad Honeycutt, whose seat was also available in this election, chose not to run, and he's been replaced by letter carrier Bosacki, who first ran for city council in 2006 and was named a planning commissioner the following year. The two received 26.30 and 23.67 percent of the vote, respectively, or a total of 7,379 and 6,641 votes each.

Their rivals, Mark Kirk and Russ Blewett, ended up in a second tier, almost 2,000 votes behind Bosacki. Kirk and Blewett each received 16 percent of the vote (16.95 and 16.68 percent, to be exact), or 4,755 and 4,678 votes. Kirk spent more than $131,269 in the election (final figures won't be available until the end of January), more than 12 times what Leonard and Bosacki spent, combined.

Candidates Rochelle Garner, Scott Bennett and Dennis Arquette did not spend much (or anything) on advertising, did not pay for ballot statements and perhaps as a result, are clustered at the bottom of the vote count, receiving between 6 and 5.15 percent of the vote each, with Garner doing the best with her 1,684 votes.

School board race

In the HUSD school board race, a stay at home father of four elementary school children is the top vote getter in the race. Bentley received 7,283 votes, or 24.87 percent of the vote.

Over the course of the vote counting, Anthony Riley -- the best-funded candidate in the school board race -- lagged behind candidate Chris Lindsay, but Wednesday morning, the San Bernardino County economic development director for airports closed the gap, passing Lindsay just before crossing the finish line. Riley received 20.82 percent of the vote with a total of 6,098 votes. Lindsay received a total of 20.04 percent of the vote and only 229 votes fewer than Riley.

Eric Swanson, the only veteran school board member in the race -- although he was voted off in 2006 -- trailed Lindsay with 15.04 percent of the vote, or 4,405 votes.

Frank Rich received 3,490 votes, or 11.92 percent of the total.

Riley had been endorsed and financially supported by the Hesperia Teachers Association, the union representing the HUSD's teachers. The HTA outspent the California School Employees Association, the union that represents non-management, non-teacher HUSD employees. The CSEA endorsed and supported Swanson and Rich.

Bringing up the rear was independent candidate Bruce Henson, who received 2,141 votes or 7.31 percent of the total.

Water board race

One incumbent held onto his seat and one lost his in the two Hesperia-area Mojave Water Agency board of directors races.

Incumbent Richard Hall, the Division 3 director on the MWA board, held onto his seat with 7,142 votes, or 49.76 percent of the vote, easily holding off a challenge from Brian Pierce, who received 4,822 votes or 33.60 percent of the vote and Nancy Siegrist, who received 2,389 votes or 16.64 percent of the vote.

Incumbent Dick Fortyune, the Division 7 director, did not fare so well. He lost his seat to challenger Doug Shumway, who won 72.30 percent of the vote, or a total of 8,098 votes. Fortyune, in turn, collected only 3,103 votes, or 27.70 percent of the total.

No more updates -- probably

The next set of election results is due to be released Monday, November 10 at 5 p.m. by the registrar of voters. If something occurs to change the results -- unlikely now, with 100 percent of precincts counted -- there will be a new story to reflect that.

Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.