Harmer opens campaign fund for potential recount
David Harmer, the Republican candidate in the 11th Congressional
Still Counting the Votes….
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters this week enacted automatic recounts in 10 contests in the county following the Nov. 8 general election, two of which were Gilroy races.Both the Gilroy City Council and Gilroy Unified School District Board of Trustees had three seats up for grabs. Because of the narrow margin of victory between the third and fourth place finishers in both races, they qualified for the automatic recount. The races’ top two vote getters are not affected.“I don’t think it will swing much, but I don’t know,” said Paul Kloecker, the former councilman who placed third in the current council race. “I will do my celebrating when I get sworn in.”The automatic recounts are based on unofficial semi-final results following the record-setting number of polling place, provisional, and mail-in ballots cast on Nov. 8, when nearly 83 percent of the county’s registered voters took part.In the City Council race, Kloecker received 5,471 votes, 95 more than fellow planning commissioner Tom Fischer, who got 5,376 votes. That is just a 0.24 percent difference, less than the 0.5 percent that triggers an automatic recount as mandated by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors earlier this year.A similar thing happened in the GUSD Board of Trustees race. Third place finisher BC Doyle, a former Navy SEAL, retired GUSD union leader and maintenance worker, received 8,439 votes, or 22.42 percent; while Paul Nadeau, director of operations of the nonprofit Navigator Schools, received 8,387 votes, or 22.28 percent. That is just a 0.38 percent difference.Nadeau, however, dropped out of the race before the election due to a potential conflict of interest because Navigator Schools operates a local charter, Gilroy Prep, which falls under the purview of the GUSD board. But his decision to drop out came too late to get his name removed from the ballot, leading him to garner thousands of votes. Nadeau said he would resign if elected and under the advice of counsel, run at a later time when it did not pose a conflict.The automatic recount, which started on Monday and will continue until the end of the weekend or whenever it’s completed, involves 150 county staff working from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the county registrar of voters office.“This is only the second time automatic recounts have taken place,” said Anita Torres, communications representative for the county registrar of voters.The eight other county races involved in automatic recounts are: Cupertino Union School District Board; Palo Alto Unified School District Board; Los Altos City Council; Monte Sereno City Council; San Jose City Council District 8; Los Altos Hills City Council; city of Santa Clara police chief; and Measure Y in the San Jose Unified School District.Narrow margins of victory, where small number of votes separated the winner from the loser, had become commonplace in small local elections. County supervisors earlier this year felt that, to satisfy voter confidence and offer greater transparency, automatic recounts paid for by the county, would be enacted if certain criteria were met, Torres said.If the contest is in a district within the county and it is not for a state or federal office; and if the margin of victory is within 0.5 percent of the total number of ballots cast or 25 votes, an automatic recount is triggered.The automatic recount as authorized by the Board of Supervisors is limited in scope and involves recounting by hand machine-counted ballots only, said Torres. “A person can see voter intent, whereas a machine would not catch it and mark it as an over- or under-vote.”Before the Board of Supervisors action, a recount would have to be voter-initiated with the costs covered by the candidate.Fourth place City Council finisher Tom Fischer said while he does not expect the recount to change the election outcome, it has been “quite an experience.”The planning commissioner, whose term ends in 2018, said if he does not surpass Kloecker to take the third spot free and clear, he intends to apply for the council seat left vacant when mayor-elect Roland Velasco is sworn in Dec. 12.However, he pointed out, the City Council can decide to bypass the application process altogether and just appoint Fischer as the fourth top vote getter in the council race.“They can pretty much do what they want to fill that seat,” he said.The top vote getters in the City Council race were GUSD Board President, Fred Tovar and incumbent Cat Tucker. In the GUSD Board of Trustee race, Mark Good and James Pace took the top spots.The final results for the Nov. 8 election will be certified by the registrar of voters on Dec. 8, after all manual recounts and audits have been completed.
Come Envision Gilroy May 3
Gilroy residents can learn more about a possible half-cent sales tax measure to fund countywide transportation at a public meeting Tuesday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at Gilroy City Hall.The first in a series to be held in the county throughout the month, attendees will have an opportunity to provide input on the transportation projects and programs that have been identified through the Envision Silicon Valley process, an effort started last year by Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority.Under the aegis of Envision Silicon Valley, Gilroy and the 15 other jurisdictions of the VTA identified approximately $47 billion in transportation projects they want to see funded through a possible sales tax measure for the November ballot.“This is a good opportunity for people who want to know more and talk with the VTA and see the plan,” said Mayor Perry Woodward, who is a member of the VTA Board.“If there is a project that folks want to see on this ballot measure, that isn’t on it, or something is on it they feel shouldn’t be on it, this is your opportunity to come and be heard.”The proposed half-cent sales tax measure would be for 30 years and go towards easing congestion in the region.“We are sending 12,000-14,000 commuters into Silicon Valley each day to work—five of the seven City Council members included—and the congestion is terrible, and this will help deal with that,” said Woodward.“It’s important from a quality-of-life standpoint for our residents, but it is also important for the economic vitality of South County,” he continued. “If something is not done, and it takes two hours to get to Silicon Valley, then we are like Los Banos or King City, in terms of our travel time. That would be a very negative thing to our economic development.”The potential sales tax measure would help fund projects both big and small, including Phase 2 of the BART extension into Santa Clara and downtown San Jose, as well as road improvements in Gilroy.“It would give us $1 million a year for street maintenance,” said Woodward. “There is always a lot of talk about the need for additional funding for street maintenance and this extra $1 million a year would help fill that missing gap.”According to the most recent State of the Streets Report, Gilroy needs to spend about $3.3 million per year for the city to meet its own target of a Pavement Condition Index score of 70. Current funding level is about $300,000 per year.Other projects identified for funding through the possible sales tax measure include a new interchange at Highway 25 and Highway 101, replacing the temporary intersection that was installed in the 1980s and extending Santa Teresa Boulevard to South San Jose.“So if you were coming from Hollister and you wanted to take a back way and not get on Highway 101, you could take Highway 25 to Santa Teresa and continue all the way into South San Jose. It creates a whole new corridor for regional traffic,” Woodward said.After the public meetings, the VTA board will vote in June putting the half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot. Once there, It would require a two-thirds voter majority to pass. For more information go to: www.vta.org/envision-silicon-valley/envision-silicon-valley
Alejo to host town hall on state budget impact
Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, will host a town hall meeting in Salinas on Thursday to discuss the state budget and its local impact, according to a statement from his office.
