The Fresno Bee
4/11/2007
By, John Ellis

Debbie Poochigian challenges Waterston

Supervisor will face scion of Fresno Co. political family in ’08.

Debbie Poochigian, a longtime Republican activist and scion of a
politically prominent local family, said Tuesday that she will challenge
Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston when he seeks re-election next year.
The announcement signals an unusually early start to the 2008 supervisorial
race and suggests that Waterston may be politically vulnerable because of an
angry voice mail he left for a Fresno city planning official.
Poochigian, 54, wife of former state legislator Chuck Poochigian and
daughter of longtime Fresno County Supervisor Deran Koligian, said her
husband is no longer commuting to Sacramento and her three children are out
of the house.
Koligian died in 2001.
"The time seems to be right," she said.
Poochigian’s decision sets up a potentially intriguing race next year, with
Waterston seeking his third term and Clovis City Council Member Nathan
Magsig also pondering a run for the seat.
"If you want to come after me, you better bring a lunch, a tent and
sleeping bag, because I’m going to be hard to catch," a defiant Waterston
said Tuesday of Poochigian’s plans.
He said he has more than $200,000 already in his campaign account.
"I’ll just keep making money," he said.
Still, many believe Poochigian could be a strong challenger. Local
Republican political consultant Tal Cloud called it a case of "two
incumbents running for the same seat."
Waterston may already have a six-figure campaign war chest, Cloud said, but
"Debbie could raise $250,000 in a weekend." He also believes her
announcement "pretty much eliminates" Magsig from serious consideration for
election.
This is Poochigian’s first run for political office, but she has been in
the local political mix for decades.
Cloud said Poochigian has honed her political skills her entire life,
starting as a young child with her father, who spent 24 years on school
boards in west Fresno County. In 1982, he was elected to the Fresno County
Board of Supervisors.
She married Chuck Poochigian, who had a long political career in
Sacramento, serving two Republican governors and doing stints in both the
Assembly and state Senate.
Poochigian also worked on several presidential campaigns, playing a key
local role in President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 runs.
Poochigian’s decision comes three months after Waterston, who works as a
pool contractor, suffered some political damage by leaving an angry message
on Fresno planning director Nick Yovino’s voice mail. In the message,
Waterston complained about delays in the approval of a large and complicated
pool project.
During the message, Waterston — who is chairman of the Local Agency
Formation Commission, which directs growth in the county — said, "remember
this door swings both ways."
Waterston apologized for the message after it became public and on Tuesday
said the LAFCO connection was a nonissue.
And Poochigian said the incident had nothing to do with her decision. She
said she has considered running for office more than once over the years —
including Waterston’s District 5 supervisorial seat, which covers most of
Clovis, parts of east Fresno and the foothills and high mountains in the
county’s eastern third.
Still, Poochigian did say that she had "talked to a lot of people the last
couple of months, and they are telling me they want a supervisor they can be
proud of."
Waterston said Poochigian told him last year she wasn’t going to run for
his seat.
"She told that to my face, and then I turn around, endorsed Chuck [in his
unsuccessful run last year for state attorney general] and wrote a $1,000
check for the AG race," Waterston said. "I did that all for them, and here
we are. … I’m not sure what her motives are."
Poochigian said she will form a campaign committee this week.
Waterston said he has three fundraisers looming.
Said Magsig: "I keep my options open, but right now my focus is on that
supervisor’s seat."