Nov. 2005 Election Summary
[ Excerpted from SB Independent, 11/10/2005 article by Ethan Stewart and Nick Welsh ]
After weathering an election campaign defined by hardball political jockeying and insider crossfire, Santa Barbara voters did what they generally do, re-electing three incumbents and filling the sole open seat with the safest bet. Mayor Marty Blum easily prevailed over a field of four challengers, beating her closest rival, Lanny Ebenstein, by a margin of nearly 2-1. Incumbent Councilmember Roger Horton played both tortoise and hare, emerging as the top votegetter with nearly 21 percent of the vote, despite his emphatically low-key style on the stump. Trailing him by a scant 710 votes was incumbent Iya Falcone, who survived an intensely personal campaign launched by Blum and Councilmember Das Williams to replace her with neighborhood advocate Dianne Channing. Filling the seat vacated by outgoing Dan Secord is first-time candidate and former planning commissioner Grant House, a smart-growth advocate and champion of alternative transportation, who garnered an impressive 17 percent of the overall vote. Rookie candidates Loretta Redd and Channing came in fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by anti-panhandling activist Terry Tyler, barber Charles Quintero, and homeless activist Bob Hansen.
Unlike most city elections, there were no developer bogeymen uniting Santa Barbara's predominantly liberal, environmentalist, blue-state blocs... The police, firefighters', and service workers' unions poured money into the race like never before. Santa Barbara voters accustomed to the guns-and-hoses political coalition between the police and firefighters unions-normally joined at the hip on all issues-saw their first responders split this year over the question of which third candidate to endorse. Neither endorsed anyone for mayor and both supported Falcone and Horton, but the firefighters backed House while the cops endorsed Redd.
Perhaps the biggest surprise element to this year's race was the impact of SEIU Local 620 (Service Employees' International Union), the largest city employees' union. Enlivened by a close relationship with Councilmember Williams, SEIU has become a force to be reckoned with in a hurry, pushing the Living Wage campaign before the City Council, negotiating the first-ever contract for the city's hourly workers, and asking such pointed and specific questions about negotiations in candidates' questionnaires as to make many City Hall insiders squirm. In addition, SEIU donated an unprecedented amount into the campaigns of all the winners, with the notable exception of Falcone, whom Williams had openly disavowed in favor of Channing.
And while tensions certainly flared this election season between Blum and Falcone, the real showdown was between Williams and Falcone, with plenty more to play out. As the two most nakedly ambitious members on the council, Williams and Falcone also happen to represent rival wings of the Democratic Party; suffice it to say that "bridge building," normally tossed around by candidates who intend no such thing, may well provide some of the best spectator sport at City Hall for the next 12 months. Mayor Blum, for one, seemed not terribly worried. In her victory speech, Blum said, "We all just need to come together and heal and make sure everything is okay."
In the meantime, Santa Barbara voters-mirroring the sentiment of voters statewide-soundly rejected all eight of the ballot measures on this year's special election ballot, including the four sponsored by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
newsoftheweek
After weathering an election campaign defined by hardball political jockeying and insider crossfire, Santa Barbara voters did what they generally do, re-electing three incumbents and filling the sole open seat with the safest bet. Mayor Marty Blum easily prevailed over a field of four challengers, beating her closest rival, Lanny Ebenstein, by a margin of nearly 2-1. Incumbent Councilmember Roger Horton played both tortoise and hare, emerging as the top votegetter with nearly 21 percent of the vote, despite his emphatically low-key style on the stump. Trailing him by a scant 710 votes was incumbent Iya Falcone, who survived an intensely personal campaign launched by Blum and Councilmember Das Williams to replace her with neighborhood advocate Dianne Channing. Filling the seat vacated by outgoing Dan Secord is first-time candidate and former planning commissioner Grant House, a smart-growth advocate and champion of alternative transportation, who garnered an impressive 17 percent of the overall vote. Rookie candidates Loretta Redd and Channing came in fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by anti-panhandling activist Terry Tyler, barber Charles Quintero, and homeless activist Bob Hansen.
Unlike most city elections, there were no developer bogeymen uniting Santa Barbara's predominantly liberal, environmentalist, blue-state blocs... The police, firefighters', and service workers' unions poured money into the race like never before. Santa Barbara voters accustomed to the guns-and-hoses political coalition between the police and firefighters unions-normally joined at the hip on all issues-saw their first responders split this year over the question of which third candidate to endorse. Neither endorsed anyone for mayor and both supported Falcone and Horton, but the firefighters backed House while the cops endorsed Redd.
Perhaps the biggest surprise element to this year's race was the impact of SEIU Local 620 (Service Employees' International Union), the largest city employees' union. Enlivened by a close relationship with Councilmember Williams, SEIU has become a force to be reckoned with in a hurry, pushing the Living Wage campaign before the City Council, negotiating the first-ever contract for the city's hourly workers, and asking such pointed and specific questions about negotiations in candidates' questionnaires as to make many City Hall insiders squirm. In addition, SEIU donated an unprecedented amount into the campaigns of all the winners, with the notable exception of Falcone, whom Williams had openly disavowed in favor of Channing.
And while tensions certainly flared this election season between Blum and Falcone, the real showdown was between Williams and Falcone, with plenty more to play out. As the two most nakedly ambitious members on the council, Williams and Falcone also happen to represent rival wings of the Democratic Party; suffice it to say that "bridge building," normally tossed around by candidates who intend no such thing, may well provide some of the best spectator sport at City Hall for the next 12 months. Mayor Blum, for one, seemed not terribly worried. In her victory speech, Blum said, "We all just need to come together and heal and make sure everything is okay."
In the meantime, Santa Barbara voters-mirroring the sentiment of voters statewide-soundly rejected all eight of the ballot measures on this year's special election ballot, including the four sponsored by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
newsoftheweek
Posted by Malcolm on
11/14/2005
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