Debut Column by Senior Editor Cheri Rae
After the loud and contentious primary campaign, the race for the 35th State Assembly seat currently held by Pedro Nava has gone very quiet as candidates Das Williams and Mike Stoker gear up for the post-Labor Day campaign for the November election. But there’s plenty of chatter going on behind the scenes…
Specifically, what happens to the make-up of the City Council if Williams wins. Local residents might want to consider the time frame mandated by the law.
According to the City Charter Section 503 on Vacancies: “A vacancy on the City Council, or in the Office of Mayor, from whatever cause arising other than expiration of term or the election of a member of the City Council to the Office of Mayor, shall be filled by appointment by the City Council within thirty (30) days of the occurrence of such vacancy unless it occurs less than one hundred (100) days before a general municipal election, in which case the office shall remain vacant until the election.”
Williams is well-within his rights to wait until learning the outcome of the election on November 2nd to resign his office if he wins or stay seated if he loses. But practically speaking, if he does win, the Santa Barbara City Council has to act fast in order to settle on an acceptable candidate within the 30-day time period shortened by the Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving holidays.
But, if he wins and chooses not to resign until just before swearing in as an Assembly member (on December 5th), the City’s time-line would be foreshortened even more, since the scheduled end-of-the year furlough begins December 20th, and there is no City Council meeting until January 11, 2011.
According to City Clerk Cynthia Rodriguez, only after the resignation of a Council member may interested individuals fill out the application as a qualified elector. Then there will be a series of interviews conducted in public by the City Council—at regular sessions or special sessions—and the public will have the opportunity to comment on behalf of anyone under consideration.
The successful candidate would have to gain a minimum of four out of six votes (Williams wouldn’t get to vote). And, there are plenty of Council wannabes from all over the political and experience spectrum making the rounds and making their case to members on the first politically divided Council in recent memory.
And residents should also be aware of the short and long-term implications of the new appointee on the make-up of City Council.
The new Council Member would take office immediately on a term that would expire in 2011. While some believe that Williams should be replaced with someone who holds the same progressive point of view, logic suggests that the more conservative members of the Council would never approve. We can only wonder who among us might be plucked from obscurity—or selected from the obvious candidates— after managing to convince at least four out of six Council Members he or she should be seated as a peer.
That appointment could hold tremendous power as a true swing vote—leading to much speculation on any number of curious questions. Should this appointment be:
- An avowed short-termer, a true community servant with no political ambition?
- A career boost to allow an incumbent to run for re-election?
- Awarded to a community member who has paid dues by serving on a variety of boards and commissions?
- A previous candidate for City Council who was not elected by the voters?
- A former elected or appointed official who has extra time to devote to the City?
- A well-informed citizen who has never run for office?
- Should the public have any input to the City Council Members who will be making this appointment?
- Should the public have the right to know who is lobbying for the job right now?
Sources close to City Hall suggest that among the hopefuls are former Mayor and current Planning Commissioner Sheila Lodge, as well as former Planning Commissioner and current Single Family Design Board member Bill Mahan—both as placeholders. Other names include most of the rest of the Planning Commission—John Jostes, Charmaine Jacobs, Michael Jordan and Deborah Schwartz—as well as former candidates for City Council Dianne Channing, John Thyne and Loretta Redd.
Of course, this whole exercise is moot if Mike Stoker wins, but worthy of consideration—and much open discussion between September and November—if Das moves on to state office, leaving city politics behind.
What about the president of the santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce?
Whatever happens, Das winning will be good for Santa Barbara, while not overly changing the face of out of control Sacramento. I hope all his supporters can remove Das’s boots from their backs for long enough to vote as he takes yet another step in his march to higher office.
If it is not David Pritchett, the next-to-place finisher in the last election, it should be no one who has run and lost, nor one with obvious political ambitions as several glow on the planning commission. The best choice would be a placeholder for the 2011 election so as to give no one an unfair, that is, non-citywide-chosen push.
Important qualities will be an understanding of the city processes; an understanding of – and caring about the city human issues, that is, youth, gangs, poverty, general quality of life here. Important also is an understanding of planning-zoning issues since it’s quite likely that the General Plan Update will be still on-going, searching for the magic number of 5.
Thanks for bringing this out in the open. There are those who’ve donated to Williams purely to get his self-reverential self off the council. His efforts to quit the council (or would-be quitting of the council) has done the city no favors to take so much attention away from the problems that need to be resolved. Politicing will take up many hours of city time……
Yes, but what are Pritchett’s views on the most important issues facing SB such as the bag tax, blue line and plover sanctuary?
LOL smurfo!
Das boots! Good one smurfo!
So how would we believe anyone who is “An avowed short-termer, a true community servant with no political ambition?”
How would that be enforced if or when they just file for election in 2011?
It couldn’t be enforced – except by the electorate. But it would most surely be a major campaign issue, eg: so-and-so promised he/she would not run in 2011 and, here he/she is already breaking her first promise! etc. Do we want another lying, self-serving politician? etc. I think that would be very effective.
Actually, Diane Channing came in fifth place in the 2009 city council election.
She must not have made too good of a favorable impression to be forgotten so soon, even with all of the establishment endorsements she received unlike how David Pritchett did in that election.
Right you are, Aver. Joe: – Council Candidates – sorted by total votes in descending order.Total Votes: House 8,946, White 8,232, Hotchkiss 6,857, Self 6,832, Channing 6,149, Pritchett 5,184.
I think that no one who has run before and therefore likely to run again, although Channing has lost twice and probably won’t run again without this appointment, should get the special boost by being appointed. Appointing someone with known political ambitions, such as Loretta Redd, among others, means a certain interest in running. It’s really doubtful that Sheila Lodge would run for re-election and of all of them she has the strongest resume.
This is really a fantastic question. Add the answer is whoever Lois Capps wants in the office will get it. The Capps political machine runs this town.
And, preceding anonymous, you can bet that Das has worked out his plan for himself for that seat — and will stay not long at that Assembly (recall his attempted move after two years against Janet Wolf) if there’s a shot at Capps’ seat. I hope that the redistricting of the state does some good, although I don’t think it would affect the boundaries of the Congressional districts.
el_smurfo is a typical right wing racist jerk, pathetically ignorant and dishonest; none of Das’s supporters, everyone of whom is a far superior human being, cares what it thinks.
Awesome argument there tm. I especially love how you went for that classic Santa Barbara elite, “racist” when nothing I said had anything to do with race. Must be really comfortable at night sleeping in your soothing cradle of smug while knowing that you are “far superior” to anyone who disagrees with you on any issue.
tm – wow! What a depth of thought!
Now – go paint your superiority line.
el_smurfo does makes a good point though. Until the snowy plover sanctuary and sea level rise issues are adequately resolved, it is difficult to see how the Santa Barbara City Council, minus Das’s participation, can successfully deal with other tangential issues, such as gang violence, rising unemployment, and public urination. We need Das’s leadership now more than ever !
So do we know who Cheri Rae likes by who she puts in bold? You may hurt more than you help Ms. Rae.