STOCKTON – It doesn’t appear that San Fant will have to worry about his pending charges on election fraud and conspiracy getting in the way of his transition to the Stockton City Council.
The embattled Weston Ranch politician – who will turn over the reins to his seat on the Manteca Unified School District Board of Education after next week’s meeting to either West Walker or Eric Duncan Sr. – was trailing opponent Jesus Andrade 55 percent to 44 percent to represent District 6, which encompasses the majority of South Stockton.
Fant, who will appear in San Joaquin Superior Court next week to be formally arraigned on two charges of election fraud and two charges of conspiracy stemming from allegedly skirting residency requirements for two candidates who were elected to the school board, claimed that he was being selectively prosecuted by the San Joaquin District Attorney’s office to prevent him from running for Stockton City Council.
Fant was the leading vote getter in the primary along with Andrade – with neither getting the more than 50 percent required to win the position outright, thus moving both to a November runoff. While the primary was limited solely to voters in District 6, Fant ran at-large in the general election.
And it also appears to be the end of an era for Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva.
The embattled politician – who was arrested earlier this summer for allegedly playing strip poker with a minor while at the mayor’s summer camp and furnishing alcohol to minors – sent what appeared to be a concession to the Stockton Record after initial returns had councilman Michael Tubbs, who abandoned the seat that Fant and Andrade are not fighting for, taking a dominant 70 percent.