In 2010, Commissioner Gene Valentino was indicted for soliciting campaign funds from his commissioner’s office. His supporters believed that his opponent in the GOP primary, George Touart, was behind the allegations. Our paper could find no proof that Touart had anything to with it. However, Touart did use the pending trial as campaign fodder, telling the paper several times that Valentino was unstable and he was confident that the commissioner would be convicted and removed from office before the August primary.
Instead, the judge dismissed the charges days before the primary. Despite spending $65,302 on his campaign, Touart placed last in the four-person race with only 595 votes. He spent about $109.75 per vote he got. Valentino narrowly beat newcomer Karen Sindel, 1,812-1,660.