Jim Leddy, Sonoma County’s community and government affairs manager, has been hired by Mono County as its top administrative officer.

Local government officials are scrambling to assess the impact — still largely unknown — of the $85 billion in federal spending cuts due to begin taking effect Friday.

Sonoma County government’s largest labor union voted Tuesday by a slim 52 percent majority to approve a proposed labor contract that would balance a short-term salary freeze with future-year wage growth.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors next week is set to authorize an internal audit and tighter oversight of employee credit card use, a move prompted in part by recent public records requests by The Press Democrat. The plan includes a call for improved ‘internal controls’ on who gets county-issued credit cards and how they are used.

The veil of secrecy surrounding the dismissal of Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner Cathy Neville is about to be lifted. A judge has given the county the green light to make public the internal investigation.

The Sonoma County’s Board of supervisors and three staff members are gathering in Washington, D.C. over the next several days at a National Association of Counties conference and to meet with the North Coast’s congressional representatives and federal officials.

Have Sonoma County politics tilted toward a “progressive” agenda that favors unions, social and environmental advocacy and limited growth? Some Democrats fear the local party is being co-opted by special interests that have the power to anoint preferred candidates and discourage other, perhaps more moderate, candidates from entering the fray.