What a relief. The elections are over and the public has decided. People with a lot of money have a better chance of winning a Republican primary. So it’s Meg Whitman ($81 million spent so far) against Jerry Brown and Carly Fiorina ($5.5 million of her own money) against Barbara Boxer. That’s the news everywhere in America, where the California race was the showstopper on the nightly punditcasts.
Finally, how can we mention the election without shining a little (electric powered) light on Prop 16. PG&E, which supported the measure requiring local authorities to get a two-thirds majority in order to compete with the PG&E powerhouse, actually came out losing. What this teaches is a valuable lesson. Even if you outspend the opposition 500-1, if the people don’t like you, they really don’t like you. Could it be that the company has been petitioning the California Public Utilities Commission to allow for a $1.1 billion rate increase, while it was pouring $50 million into the election? It may have been close, but Prop 16 lost, proving what the Beatles said: “Money can’t buy you love.”
Here in Santa Cruz, Neal Coonerty defeated architect Cove Britton, a sharp opponent of the county’s planning policy, for a seat as County Supervisor. Britton poured almost $60,000 of his own money into his campaign, ran on the notion that politics as usual was stifling the county. On the other hand, his ideas for business-friendly policies and call for greater accountability did not offer enough specifics to defeat the popular incumbent.
In District 4, incumbent Tony Campos is headed for a runoff election in November against challenger Greg Caput of the Watsonville City Council. Caput, who won 37 percent of the vote in the three-man race, said that he was “off to a good start.”
In the races to fill two seats on the Superior Court bench, Santa Cruz civil attorney John Gallagher beat out his two challengers, whose track records were established in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties, and civil attorney Rebecca Connolly had it over defense attorney Steve Wright.
These elections were fun indeed, and they may be relegated to just a memory. In a final vote against partisan politics, the people of California have decided to scrap party-based primaries with Proposition 14. Starting in 2011, there will be just a single primary, bringing all the candidates together. Only the top two candidates will face off in the election, which means that it could be two Republicans or two Democrats competing against each other for your vote. So relish the memory of this primary season. It could be the last one you’ll see for a long time. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Fox 35.
