Politics

District 5 candidates await tally

2010-11-04T03:32:38Z

With a 528-vote margin and large numbers of unprocessed ballots, Sacramento City Council District 5 candidates said Wednesday they're waiting for a final count in the race.

City Council races won't be updated for two weeks. As of Wednesday, an estimated 108,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 12,000 provisional ballots must still be processed in the county.

The number of ballots still to be counted in District 5 may be known as early as Friday, but possibly not until Tuesday, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County elections department.

As of election night, candidate Jay Schenirer (pronounced "Sha-neer") had captured 4,309 votes, while the tally for Patrick Kennedy was 3,781.

Kennedy and his wife leave Thursday for a weeklong vacation in Miami after 19 months of campaign work. They're waiting for the final count and could conceivably call for a recount, he said.

"We're not going to do anything until all the votes are counted. We're sitting tight," he said. "If it ends up ridiculously close, clearly, we would consider asking for a recount."

Schenirer and his wife are also leaving soon for a break. He said he, too, is waiting for the numbers to be certified, although he has begun to think about what work may be in front of him if he wins.

"I certainly feel good about where the numbers stand today," Schenirer said. "I don't want to get ahead of the county and the final tally."

The county has 28 days from the election, or until Nov. 30, to certify results. Certification typically doesn't take the entire 28 days. But county elections officials expect to take until Nov. 29 or Nov. 30 this time, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County elections department.

New City Council members are expected to be sworn in Nov. 30.

Election 2010: Mail voting breaks records; 108,000 uncounted

2010-11-04T01:18:52Z

The outcome of some local races could still be uncertain, after Sacramento County residents set records for vote-by-mail ballots in the 2010 general election Tuesday.

Voters cast 232,0000 vote-by-mail or "absentee" ballots in this election, which itself is not a record. That number didn't beat the total for 2008, when 253,262 were cast in this county in a general election that sent Barack Obama to the White House, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.

As of Wednesday, an estimated 108,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 12,000 provisional ballots must still be processed, according to the Sacramento County elections department website. The ballots must be verified before they count toward races.

The 124,000 vote-by-mail ballots turned in and processed by Friday was a record, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County elections department.

"This is the election where we have broken our records continuously from day one," he said.

For the first time, more voters requested vote-by-mail ballots than the number still registered to vote at polling places – although many vote-by-mail ballots were dropped off at polling places on election day. In November 2008, 46 percent of registered voters were registered to vote by mail. That number grew to 52 percent of the 678,923 county residents registered to vote in Tuesday’s election.

As of Oct. 19, 216,090 city residents were registered to vote.

The county had more vote-by-mail ballots dropped off on election day than previous elections. In 2008, about 50,000 vote-by-mail ballots were dropped off on election day. On Tuesday, about 67,000 were dropped off at the polls, Buyse said.

That also leaves a large number of vote-by-mail returns yet to be processed. The county elections department has 28 days from the election, or until Nov. 30, to certify results. Sacramento City Council races and other races in Sacramento County won't be updated for two weeks.

Certification typically doesn't take the entire 28 days. But Buyse and other county elections officials expect to take until Nov. 29 or Nov. 30.

Elections officials won't know the total turnout in the general election or the number of voters who cast traditional ballots at the polls until they get closer to certifying elections, he said.

Reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report. Photos by Suzanne Hurt.

Measure B going down to defeat

2010-11-03T07:16:54Z

Sacramento residents won't see monthly utility rates drop next summer after voters overwhelmingly rejected Measure B at the polls Tuesday.

The initiative to roll back the city's rates for water, garbage and sewer services was failing by more than two to one late Tuesday night. With 287 out of 355 precincts counted, 41,328 – or 68 percent – of voters chose to stick with higher fees as of 10:55 p.m.

More than 19,000 voters, or nearly 32 percent, had voted for the Utilities Rate Hike Roll Back Act of 2010 sponsored by the Sacramento County Taxpayers League, according to Sacramento County's elections department.

The measure's opponents believe a rate decrease would have been a "risky approach" that ultimately would have led to the neglect of utility infrastructure, Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn said. He led a "No on Measure B" campaign with Councilman Kevin McCarty and local union leaders.

Sacramento voters know they have other avenues to bring about change in the city, he added.

"I think the tea party sort of anti-government, anti-tax (movement) – it doesn't have as strong an appeal in the city of Sacramento. Or, for that matter, it doesn't seem to have that much appeal in the state of California," Cohn said. "I think people realize they don't have to resort to a drastic measure like Measure B to have an impact on local politics."

In June 2009, the City Council had approved two rate increases totaling more than 18 percent.

The league filed the ballot initiative in February, a month after a Sacramento County Grand Jury issued a report saying the city and the utilities department may have diverted more than $21 million in utility revenues to other city programs supported by the city's general fund. The report also said utilities ratepayers may have paid for more than the cost of the utility services provided.

Measure B sought to revoke a 9.2 percent rate increase approved by the council. The measure also required voters to approve future rate increases that are higher than annual Consumer Price Index increases. The rate decrease would have taken effect in July.

Supporters blamed confusing ballot language and heavily financed opposition by city employee unions, contractors and city officials. Exit polls indicated voters were confused about whether a "yes" or "no" vote would roll back rates, Yes on Measure B Chairman Craig Powell said Tuesday night at an election night party in Curtis Park.

"Measure B was severely handicapped by ballot language approved by the City Council that was incomprehensible to voters," said Powell, who is also the league's attorney. "It was a cynical attempt to manipulate the electoral process. From early returns, it looks like that attempt was successful."

The taxpayers league raised about $60,000 to support the initiative. The No on Measure B campaign raised at least $170,000, Cohn said.

Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, led by Harry Rotz, and the California Building and Trades Council each contributed at least $50,000. Other unions and contractors also contributed to a fund that paid for mass mailings, radio ads and campaign signs against the measure in the final weeks of the campaign, Powell said.

Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Kevin Johnson said he opposed the measure. The Utilities Rate Advisory Commission, a citizen’s group that advises the City Council on utilities rates, also opposed Measure B.

Supporters believe their campaign for Measure B convinced other City Council members to join Johnson in calling for an audit of the department. Supporters also believe the campaign will encourage city officials to be more conservative when considering future rate hikes, he said.

"That's the beginning of reform," Powell said, promising to hold city leaders accountable for fixing the utility department's problems. "We're not walking away from this issue."

District 7 candidates getting out the vote

2010-11-02T20:05:01Z

Sacramento City Council District 7 candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin were leading their campaigns’ election day efforts Tuesday to get voters to the polls.

Fong voted at Greenhaven Neighborhood Church Tuesday morning. Exiting the polling place, he vowed not to take a salary if elected until the city budget improves.

The retired Sacramento police captain said his top priorities are public safety, building and figuring out how to provide city services when revenue is down.

"The only agenda I have is seeing the city move forward," he said. "We will come out of this. We'll just have to be more efficient with how we deliver services."

Fong then headed to his campaign headquarters in a strip mall on Florin Road. Several volunteers sat at tables making phone calls to remind supporters to vote.

Resident Gilbert Garza stopped in to wish Fong good luck before he dropped off an absentee ballot at a polling place.

"I'm very confident he's going to win," said Garza, 57.

Fong gathered several volunteers and then headed out into the district, where he has lived for nearly 30 years.

Fong paired up with Scott Whyte, a volunteer sent by one of Fong's endorsers, the Sacramento Regional Builder's Exchange. They hung fliers on doorknobs of people who hadn't cast ballots in the first wave of voting Tuesday morning.

Fong appeared a bit tense but said he wasn't nervous running in his first election.

"It's politics. If it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be," he said. "I think we've run a good campaign and I hope that carries through to tonight."

4 p.m. update

Meanwhile, his opponent, Chin, and at least 20 volunteers reached out to supporters as well.

At campaign headquarters in another strip mall just across Florin Road, Chin, his wife, Alice, and their oldest son, Kyle, made phone calls urging people to the polls Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm calling for my husband, Ryan Chin," Alice Chin said. "I'm just giving you a quick call to thank you for your support and let you know where your polling location is if you don't already know it. Are you going out today?"

Chin, who works as staff director of strategic communications for Sacramento State, said his business and education background set him apart from Fong. His primary goals if elected are to create jobs, bring more businesses to Sacramento and invest in local youth by supporting a strong partnership between the city and schools.

Chin later knocked on doors in his district. Connie Koppes answered at a home on Trudy Way.

"I voted for you this morning," she told Chin as they shook hands.

Chin said he was "nervously optimistic" about how his first political race would turn out.

"From all our walking and all our talking, I'm looking forward to the results," he said. "Our level of support is strong."

Sac women honor 90th anniversary of voting rights

2010-08-27T06:22:56Z

Former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo led a celebration Thursday night marking the 90th anniversary of American women winning the right to vote.

About 40 people joined Fargo, now president of the Sacramento chapter of the National Women's Political Caucus, to talk politics and watch the HBO Films production "Iron Jawed Angels."

The group hoped the movie would inspire more women to vote, work on campaigns and get involved in politics by reminding them what people went through to win that right, Fargo said.

"Women are half of the population or maybe more than that. As women join the debate, the debate changes," she said. "Having a women's voice in elected office is absolutely critical to a real democracy."

The event was held at Time Tested Books, 1114 21st St., as a fundraiser for the women's political group. The NWPC chapter will soon endorse candidates for the November 2010 general election.

The movie stars Hilary Swank as Alice Paul and Frances O'Connor as Lucy Burns, who became leaders in the American suffrage movement. They created the National Woman's Party to use what were then considered more radical means to battle for the right to vote — picketing the White House during wartime and going on hunger strikes in jail.

Those efforts, capping decades of work by suffragists, helped lead to ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution on Aug. 26, 1920.

At the event, Teray Stephens, president of the NWPC of California, discussed her group's Women's Appointment Project to help qualified women apply for at least 3,000 political appointments that will need to be filled by the new California governor elected in November.

District 3: Cohn vs. Little

2010-06-09T08:05:45Z

Despite uncertain election results, City Councilman Steve Cohn appeared to lead the pack vying for his District 3 council seat by a fairly wide margin of nearly 13 percent.

Vote numbers stayed the same from shortly after polls closed at 8 p.m. to well after midnight. Late Tuesday night, Cohn and his closest challenger, East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce President Chris Little, said they were confused after not getting any explanation from the county.

Throughout the night, Cohn was reported to have 1,716 votes to Little's 1,295. That would put Little, a realtor in his first political race, 421 votes behind, at 39.59 percent to Cohn's 52.46 percent.

The 3,271 votes counted in District 3 as of about 8:15 p.m. were believed to be all the absentee ballots that had been turned in by Saturday, but that couldn't be confirmed with the county Registrar of Voters.

"It looks pretty good right now. But we still haven't seen any results after they came out with these absenteers," Cohn said when asked to comment at 10:40 p.m. "It's certainly more encouraging than what's happening to incumbents in Districts 1 and 7."

Shortly before 11 p.m., Little said he was frustrated, but he wasn't about to throw in the towel.

"Heck, no. There's no reason to give up," he said. "They haven't put any results out. Shoot — the race hasn't been started in some respects."

Cohn and Little were leagues ahead of the other two contenders in terms of votes. Contractor Shawn Eldredge and Jeff Rainforth — who both identify themselves as activists — were trailing with 159 and 100 votes, respectively.

Eldredge welcomed family and friends to his Midtown home for a supporter-appreciation party before polls closed. Sitting on his front stoop, Eldredge said his chances of winning weren't high.

"I'm not going to win," said Eldredge, who wore a T-shirt that read, 'Say no to business as usual.'

Very few voters attended the District 3 candidates' forums in the days before the election, Eldredge noted. Still, he said he did his best to run his campaign based on issues.

"I know one thing: I will sleep well," he said. "I did not compromise my ethics. I did not lie, cheat, steal."

Just before voting at 7 p.m., Rainforth said his campaign for City Council went "a lot better" than previous runs for Congress and governor of California because it was local. His eyes looking a bit bloodshot, Rainforth said he was out until 3 a.m. putting out lawn signs the night before the election.

"It's a lot of work," said Rainforth. "And it was mostly just me."

At least 60 people turned out for Little's election-night party at Clubhouse 56 in East Sacramento. Little credited some of his success to a "real organic" campaign that mixed traditional meet-and-greets in people's homes with social media networking — along with his campaign message.

"I think it's the fact that what I've been talking about is back to basics — a common-sense approach to getting things done in the city," he said.

East Sacramento resident Emma Grieve, a family friend, joined other supporters at the party.

"We just need someone new and different in the City Council to straighten it out because it's just a mess," she said.

Several hundred people gathered with Cohn at Bisla's Sports Bar to watch election results come in. Cohn said he's campaigned just as hard as the first time he ran back in 1994.

Shortly before polls closed, Cohn knocked on a door, only to find a woman frantically waiting for her husband to return and watch their three young children so she could vote. The woman, who was in her 30s, said she'd voted in every election since she was 18. He walked her to the nearby polling place and watched her 5-year-old as she went inside.

"She was distraught because she didn't think she'd be able to vote," he said. "I'll do a lot of things for a vote, but that's the first time I've babysat for one."

From early results, Cohn said it appeared voters weren't putting him "in the same basket" with other incumbents who weren't faring as well.

"I think people know me pretty well in District 3 and appreciate what I've been doing," he said.

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Fargo: Will she run again?

2009-11-24T06:10:46Z

Former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said she has been considering running for re-election.

In news that would be welcome to many who still call her by her honorary title, Fargo said Friday she has thought about running for the seat she lost a year ago to former NBA star Kevin Johnson.

"I have," she said. "Mainly because I'm asked all the time.

"It was clearly a great honor to be elected mayor. It was very painful, very challenging and incredibly rewarding at the same time," she said during one of her first media interviews since leaving office.

It's far too soon to say whether she will run in the 2012 mayoral election, Fargo said. However, she may want more challenge than the behind-the-scenes consulting and volunteer work she's been doing for the last year. She's never been good at taking time off, she said with a smile.

"Yes, I'd rather be mayor than what I'm doing," Fargo said in an interview on current city issues. "And obviously, I still care about the city."

A year away from elected office has left her feeling more rested than she has since being elected to the Sacramento City Council in 1989, said Fargo, 56. Multiple sclerosis has made it difficult for her to walk. But during a two-hour conversation in Midtown, Fargo laughed easily and made light-hearted comments - including some about not being mayor.

For instance, some people still aren't sure how to address Fargo after she served as mayor for eight years.

"Most people still call me mayor. And I like that. But a lot of people call me Heather. I'm okay with that, too," Fargo said. "I used to say, 'You can call me anything as long as I'm sitting in the chair.' I can't say that anymore."

People have asked her to run for state and county offices. But Fargo has not been willing to re-enter politics.

"I just wanted to spend some time not being in elected office and see," she said. "I don't want to say never, but I don't have a plan right now."

Fargo has been working as a consultant for California Forward, a political and governmental reform group. She has been working on an initiative to improve the state budget process and another that would guard local government revenue from being taken by the state.

"There are some things we can do now that can make a difference," she said. "We think what we're offering is a modest but meaningful package that will make a difference as to how California is run."

Fargo also volunteers for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and helped start a National Women's Political Caucus chapter in Sacramento.

The impact of multiple sclerosis is noticeable when she walks. Fargo, who must use a cane, moves more slowly now. She also wears an electronic medical device under her right knee to help stimulate her foot to move. The device hasn't been approved for MS patients and Fargo's insurance company refuses to cover it.

She stretches and strengthens her core regularly and does physical therapy. Fargo called the disease "frustrating," but not completely debilitating.

"The body parts you need to be mayor are a brain, a heart and a backbone," she said. "Legs are optional."

But Fargo isn't ready to say definitively whether she'll make a bid to serve in city politics again.

"I don't want to discount it out of hand," she said. "But in two years, I may want to support someone else who comes forward."

On Saturday, Fargo spoke at a memorial gathering that celebrated the life of community activist Mary Brill. Fargo has kept a watchful eye on city government. Elected officials consult her on important matters.

"I weigh in when I think it's appropriate," she said.

Fargo said she believes Johnson, her successor, is getting far less media scrutiny than she did during her tenure as mayor. She said this is partly because of the loss of experience and institutional memory that has accompanied the layoffs and departure of so many journalists from The Sacramento Bee.

Much institutional memory also has disappeared from City Hall, she said.

Fargo wouldn't comment on a congressional report, released Friday, that includes detailed information about a federal investigation of the St. Hope organization's alleged misuse of $800,000 in federal AmeriCorps grants and claims of sexual misconduct that arose against Johnson, its executive director at that time. No charges were ever filed against Johnson. The organization agreed in a civil settlement to pay back half the money.

However, Fargo did weigh in on Johnson's strong-mayor initiative. Such a change would strip City Council members of much power and control, she said.

"I think it very much devalues the City Council," Fargo said. "I think it's a very dangerous proposal. It would change how we do business in Sacramento so drastically."

Fargo said she doesn't like the veto power the mayor would have over council decisions. The mayor could veto decisions without listening to the public, she said, adding that she worked for 10 years to make city government and the council process more open to residents.

"This just seems to go 180 degrees in the other direction," she said. "It doesn't sound like Sacramento to me."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.