GILROY
– Paul Correa supporters can rest easy now.
The 31-year-old land-use planner garnered 2,241 votes in the
City Council election, enough support to stave off come-from-behind
runs by fellow candidates Dion Bracco and Peter Arellano. Both men
trailed Correa by just 74 and 89 votes, respectively, before more
than 450 last-minute absentee ballots had been counted Friday.
GILROY – Paul Correa supporters can rest easy now.
The 31-year-old land-use planner garnered 2,241 votes in the City Council election, enough support to stave off come-from-behind runs by fellow candidates Dion Bracco and Peter Arellano. Both men trailed Correa by just 74 and 89 votes, respectively, before more than 450 last-minute absentee ballots had been counted Friday.
Absentee vote tallies traditionally favor conservative candidates, making a win by local business-owner Bracco over a union-backed Correa in grasp late last week. However, after the final ballots had been counted by the county registrar’s office, Correa’s lead over Bracco decreased by only four votes. And his lead over incumbent Arellano, who was also supported by labor unions, shot up to 102.
“Now I can really celebrate,” a relieved Correa said Friday. “I’m proud I cracked the 2,000 mark. We knew if we got 2,200 votes we had a really good chance. That was the magic number.”
Days after the election candidates were already on pins and needles when they learned at least 159 absentee ballots remained uncounted because they were not mailed in as usual, but rather delivered to polling places on Election Day. The total number of absentee ballots delivered to polling places and the county registrar’s office were roughly 500. The final total isn’t available yet.
“At first, I was feeling a little bad,” Bracco said Friday. “But you know what? I did good.”
Bracco was doing better than good for much of Tuesday night. When the first round of ballots had been counted, he was in third place and remained there long into the night.
Not bad for a first-time candidate with no political experience. Even better for someone who just days after filing for his candidacy last summer decided to drop out of the race.
“(Running for City Council) was a last minute thing. I think I was a little intimated by the big stack of papers I had to look through,” Bracco said, explaining his choice to pull out of the race.
The tow truck company owner also said a very realistic conversation with his future campaign manager, Councilman Craig Gartman, covered all the negatives of political office.
“In the end, I saw people believed in me, and in my heart I knew I was as qualified as any candidate to be on City Council,” Bracco said.
Bracco, 45, used a common-business-sense and fiscal-conservative message to drum up support from longtime and influential Gilroyans like Don Christopher of Christopher Ranch garlic farm that could spell victory in the 2005 election. Bracco said he is considering another Council bid.
Bracco has applied to fill one of the city Planning Commission seats that Valiquette and Correa leave vacant following their recent City Council victories. The Planning Commission plays an advisory role to Council on building and land-use decisions.
“I’m hoping Dion will run in two years,” Gartman said. “The Planning Commission will serve as an excellent training ground for him. It’s going to make him more aware of all that’s going on in the city, which will make him all that more valuable of a community leader.”
A Bracco victory last week would have defeated more than just Correa, who tried to get on City Council in the 2001 election. A Bracco win would have spelled defeat for labor unions, too, which spent more than $11,000 just in last-minute pro-Correa mailers alone.
The flyers were sent to residents the weekend before the election. They touted Correa as “uniquely qualified,” drawing on his Harvard and Berkeley academic background as well as his professional experience in land-use planning.
Correa, who used to be a planner for the City of San Jose, is a private land-use consultant today.
Correa said it was the electorate’s desire for a politically diverse City Council, not the union support, that landed him a seat on the dais. What serves as evidence, Correa said, are the last-minute absentee ballots – typically a conservative vote – that did little to sway the election.
“I think the voters wanted a balanced Council in terms of political affiliation,” he said.
The newly elected Councilmen will be seated Dec. 1 at the regular City Council meeting. Among the issues the new dais will face in coming months is a farmland preservation bill, downtown revitalization and the relocation and expansion of Wal-Mart – a matter that distanced candidates significantly during the campaign.
Voters did not make a clear stand for or against Wal-Mart in the election since both Wal-Mart supporters and detractors got elected.
The nation’s largest retailer wants to move its existing Arroyo Circle store to the new Pacheco Pass Center near Costco, Lowe’s and Target. The new store would sell low-priced groceries, something many believe will send supermarkets on the east side of town packing.
