Early results show well-funded Deputy Steve Bernal ousting Sheriff Scott Miller in a major upset.

Sheriff Scott Miller finds fundraising distasteful, something he may come to regret. “You have to be willing to take money from people you might find unsavory, and law enforcement it’s good practice not to be beholden to anyone because of campaign contributions,” he said on his way to his election night party at the Moose Lodge in Del Rey Oaks.

Miller loaned his campaign $172,000 of his own money, and raised shy of $50,000. Financially, he trailed behind a South County deputy, Steve Bernal, who significantly out-fundraised his boss.

Bernal raised upwards of $327,000 and gave himself another $45,000. More than $100,000 of Bernal’s funds came from Margaret Duflock, a San Ardo rancher and his brother’s mother-in-law. Central to Bernal’s platform is a pledge to crack down on agricultural crime in South County.

As of 1am Wednesday, Bernal was ahead, 51.4 percent to Miller’s 48.5 percent. It will be days before the results are finaled, but at the Bernal election bash, the mood was celebratory.

Bernal celebrated with supporters, who include four former sheriffs and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association, of which he is a member, at 201 Main in Oldtown Salinas. The Weekly, as well as some other local media outlets, was barred from entering the party.

The mood was tepid at Miller’s party at the Moose Lodge, where local electeds dropped by and a handful of deputies milled near a table of chicken wings, fruit, cheese and crackers. It was not unlike the scene that appeared on the anonymous “Corrupt Sheriff Scott Miller” Facebook page: plastic cups on beer on a table with Miller, state Sen. Bill Monning, former Herald editor Royal Calkins and veteran/activist Gordon Smith standing around it.

“We expected it to be close,” Miller’s right-hand-man Jim Colangelo said after early results, showing Miller trailing by a 2-point margin. “The fact that it’s this close has put a little crimp in our style.”

Across the room, County Supervisor Jane Parker chatted with Miller about what would happen to Colangelo and the rest of Miller’s advisers. “You’ve got a crackerjack team,” Parker told him.

Parker joined many elected officials, including Monning and Assemblyman Luis Alejo, state senators Anthony Cannella and Mark Stone, Congressman Sam Farr, Gov. Jerry Brown, and a number of local mayors and council members, in endorsing Miller. 

She was, however the only county supervisor to do so. 

County Supervisor Lou Calcagno says both Bernal and Miller called to ask for his endorsement, but he declined to offer one in this race. 

"First of all, being a supervisor, you have to work with the sheriff," says Calcagno, who is retiring this year to return full-time to his Moss Landing dairy. 

"The other thing is, South County farmers, and particularly the Duflock family, are supporting [Bernal]. For many years, I bought alfalfa hay from them.

If they're supporting a candidate, I'm not going to basically go against them; we've had a business relationship for over 40 years. I don't want to get in a fight with some of my South County friends." 

Bernal did not immediately return a call for comment on Wednesday morning.