A batch of familiar faces will grace campaign brochures this
fall as three councilmen defend their seats against two returning
candidates.
Gilroy – A batch of familiar faces will grace campaign brochures this fall as three councilmen defend their seats against two returning candidates.
The challengers are Planning Commission Chairman Dion Bracco, who lost a council berth by less than 100 votes in 2003, and former City Councilman Peter Arellano.
Those candidates joined incumbent Councilmen Bob Dillon, Craig Gartman, and Charles Morales in submitting their campaign paperwork Friday, the deadline to file with the county registrar of voters.
Bracco and Dillon filed their paperwork earlier in the week, while Arellano and Morales waited until Friday morning, according to City Clerk Rhonda Pellin. But the latest filing came unexpectedly from Gartman, who waited until Friday afternoon to submit his documents.
Reached hours before filing his papers, Gartman dispelled rumors that he did not plan to run again.
“Sometimes you’ve got to wait until the last second to see what you’re campaign statement is going to say – or not going to say,” he said, referring to the 200-word statement that candidates write for the voter ballot brochure.
Gartman has revised his statement multiple times in recent days as events unfolded in the city’s binding arbitration saga. Councilmen have spent the last several weeks debating the merits of a proposed ballot measure to either rescind binding arbitration or subject arbitrator decisions to voter approval. Gartman and the other incumbents joined their colleagues in endorsing the voter-approval option, a move that prompted threats of political retribution from public safety unions.
But during a special council meeting Thursday night, just one day before filing deadlines expired for council hopefuls and ballot measures, councilmen announced they would not use the November ballot in an effort to uproot binding arbitration. The decision came amidst a clamor of last-minute union arguments about due process and threats of legal action
“I had a few different versions (of my statement) that, depending on what happened (Thursday) night, would determine what the focal point was going to be, (would) tell me a little bit of how I was going to address this issue in a political environment,” Gartman explained. “I dramatically de-emphasized binding arbitration to the point where I don’t even mention it because I don’t believe that this issue needs to be politicized.”
Councilman Bob Dillon avoided the need for any rewrites by choosing not to submit a 200-word statement, a move he said was intended to save the city $1,538 in filing fees.
By the end of Friday afternoon, the county registrar’s office had signed off on the nomination papers of all candidates except for Gartman, who submitted his papers at 4pm. An incumbent who misses the 5pm filing deadline triggers a five-day extension during which other residents can sign up to run. City Clerk Pellin expected no extensions this year.
“I’m sure they’re really busy today because so many people wait until the last day,” Pellin said after receiving Gartman’s papers. “I doubt that I would hear about his until Monday.”
The passing of the filing deadline means that Gilroy will go at least six years without another female council member. The last woman to serve was Guadalupe Arellano, who lost a re-election bid in 2001 after her first four-year term. The next election after this fall takes place in 2007.
