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Some local political news : One of 12 candidates vying for three open seats in the city council was found dead in his home the night before the election, the city’s clerk’s office confirmed. William Barker, 72, died at his home Monday night before polls opened for the contentious local election. Barker had been a politically active resident in Mission Viejo, and entered his name as a candidate for the city’s council race this year. According to the latest reporting statements, the engineer raised about $12,614 for his campaign and spent $9,357. Barker is believed to have died of cardiac arrest, said Karen Hamman, city clerk for Mission Viejo. “I spoke to him yesterday,” Hamman said. Barker’s death is believed to have been caused by natural causes and no autopsy is planned, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. I didn’t know Mr. Barker and didn’t endorse him in today’s election , but I saw something in this piece that would have made me like him a lot: He praised police services in Mission Viejo – which he described as a “hill country community” – but said he disagreed with some “enforcement methods being used, especially downhill speed measurement controls.” Mission Viejo is one big speed trap with cops sitting at the bottom of steep hills snagging speeders. I’ve written before that I think that kind of enforcement is unfair .