That’s me all over

Most of the early — and it is early — behind-the-scenes maneuvering appears to focus on two candidates: Ken Binder, former undersheriff in Santa Clara County, who retired in December after 26 years in the office; and David Lazar, former assistant chief in the San Francisco Police Department, who retired in May after 33 years in the department.

Insiders say Binder has won over two key groups in the office — the Organization of Sheriff’s Sergeants, and the command staff of captains and lieutenants. It also is said that Binder would bring back Chris Hsiung, the former Mountain View police chief, who served as undersheriff to Corpus but quickly left the office when things started to get weird.

Lazar is said to have the eager support of Supervisor David Canepa. Once a legislative aide to San Francisco-based state Sen. Leland Yee, Canepa has maintained close political ties in San Francisco.

The Deputy Sheriff’s Association, representing the bulk of personnel at the office, was interviewing candidates Wednesday with no word on how they were leaning.

What could be a key issue is the portion of the sheriff’s job posting that asks applicants to “Describe your experience and/or philosophies around operating correctional facilities.” It is a requirement specifically added by the board. If experience running a jail is critical, it could be an insurmountable hurdle for at least four of the candidates.

You can see the applications, including videos, here: smcgov.org/ceo/meet-candidates-san-mateo-county-sheriff. They are surprisingly fascinating.

There has been considerable political activity around the question of whether the board also will create an inspector general with subpoena powers to serve as oversight of the Sheriff’s Office. … Insiders say there may not be three votes on the board in support of the post.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED: What was supposed to be an off year with no elections and only muted political maneuvering has been anything but. We have had two elections this year — in March that was only in San Mateo County, and Tuesday’s statewide election. Each of them had only one item on the ballot.

In the March election, in which voters gave the Board of Supervisors the authority to fire Corpus, a total of 108,346 votes were cast. In Tuesday’s vote on Proposition 50, which redrew California’s congressional districts to the benefit of the Democrats, 187,558 votes were cast in the county.

Locally, Proposition 50 passed in the county with 75.5% voting yes, nearly 12 points ahead of the statewide vote. Make of this what you will.

On The Game podcast, U.S. Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, said the common campaign theme in Tuesday’s Democratic wins in New York City, Virginia and New Jersey was affordability and the growing sense among voters that President Trump “doesn’t know what he’s doing on the economy.”

Mullin, with uncharacteristic heat, also denounced the continuing “cruelty” of Trump’s policies; concurred there will be a continuing national “arms race” on the redrawing of congressional district lines; and said he expects Gov. Gavin Newsom to run for president. In a semi-related note, U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-San Jose, recently sent out a news release trumpeting a bipartisan call for action on health care, which is stalled by the government shutdown. Liccardo’s Republican partner in this effort is Kevin Kiley of Roseville. Or it was. Kiley’s district was redrawn by Proposition 50. He said Tuesday he will run for Congress next year, he just is not sure where.

NOTE TYPE NOTES: Speaking of Canepa, who has been openly interested in running for county assessor-county clerk-recorder and chief elections officer next year, there is a rumor circulating that he may be opposed by San Mateo Community College Trustee John Pimentel. … Every election cycle, speculation starts anew that former Burlingame Councilmember Emily Beach, now serving as chief communications officer at SamTrans, might run for some office or another. Spurring the speculation has been the ongoing existence of an Emily Beach for Supervisor 2024 campaign committee. But this week, via email, Beach said she will close down the committee by the end of the year and “every donor who contributed to my (campaign) received a thank you letter and pro-rata refund check in the mail.”