Former Fairfax Council Candidate Lands Behind Bars

A Fairfax man who last month sought election to the Town Council now finds himself in the slammer.

Christopher Lang was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of forgery, burglary and grand theft, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s website. He is being held on $50,000 bail.

Lang, 60, lost his bid for a seat on the Town Council last month against incumbents John Reed, Barbara Coler and David Weisenhoff.

A police investigation into a report by Lang’s former roommate that someone had cashed his $1,400 paycheck culminated with the former candidate’s arrest, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

Lang confessed to police that he cashed the check, the report said.

Lang’s most recent Town Council bid was his fourth. He ran unsuccessfully in 1999, 2009 and 2011.

Lang is a former planning commissioner.

He’s also been the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce president and was the founder and president of the Marin Bicycle Coalition.

Lang served on the Manor School PTA for 11 years and led a volunteer effort to paint the school.

But Lang has a lengthy rap sheet to go along with his compelling resume.

He’s on probation for two DUI convictions in 2009 and 2011 according to the IJ.

That followed a series of arrests that he attributed to a police vendetta against him, according to a 2011 Independent Journal report.

"I've been arrested six times by them in the last 18 months. Do the math," Lang told the IJ.

In his campaign earlier this year Lang ran on downtown improvements that included adding bike lanes, reducing the speed limit and planting trees along with a fiscally conservative twist. 

“New taxes are not the answer,” he said.

Lang was among four candidates running for three seats on the Town Council. He finished a distant fourth with 417 votes (8.7 percent).