By Patric Hedlund

Bakersfield City Councilmember David Couch, 52 whose term expires in 2014, declared his interest Tuesday, Sept. 27 in running for the Kern County Board of Supervisors in District 4.

The majority of the population of the Mountain Communities is within this district, currently served by Supervisor Ray Watson. Watson, whose term expires next year, has said that he does not plan to run again.

Harley Pinson, 61—an oil industry attorney for 30 years—has also declared as a candidate. He has served with Occidental Petroleum, Getty Oil Company, and the California State Lands Commission, according to his official biography. He is presently with the Bakersfield law firm of Klein, DeNatale, Goldner, Cooper, Rosenlieb and Kimball, LLP which has also served Tejon Ranch Corporation. He is active in Rotary and has not held elected office earlier.

Couch has not yet issued a declaration statement as we go to press, but when he was running for Bakersfield City Council in 1998, the League of Women Voters reported that he is a Republican with a BS in business administration from San Jose State University, and has served as a radio talk show business correspondent. In his past campaigns for the city council, he has been endorsed by the Association of Bakersfield Police Officers, Bakersfield Firefighters and Kern County Prosecutors.

Michael Rouw, another Bakersfield resident, has also said he wishes to run to represent District 4. Rouw is characterized as “a regular observer and occasional commentator at the Kern County Board of Supervisors weekly meetings,” by the Bakersfield Californian.

He commented to the board this year, for instance about Kern Health Care System’s raises to top executives.

This is part of the September 30, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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