What ended up being a relatively short night for the presidential candidates, with Sen. John McCain conceding the race to Sen. Barack Obama around 8:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time Tuesday, proved a longer one for candidates in several local races, including some still undecided contests.
Unofficial final tallies showed incumbents losing or in danger of losing seats on city councils in Jackson, Plymouth and Ione, the Amador Water Agency Board of Directors and the Amador County Unified School District.
By Wednesday morning, it seemed clear that Plymouth Mayor Jon Colburn had won his seat decisively. Incumbent Patricia Shackleton also appeared to be leading with a safe margin of victory. Incumbent Greg Baldwin was in a much different situation. The race between him and businesswoman Maria Nunez was still too close to call, with Nunez leading by two votes and 50 provisional and mail-in ballots still to be counted.
"I'm elated by all of the support I've received," Nunez said. "I'm being told it could be at least a week before they know for sure who will be certified the winner. At this point, I'm glad the election itself is done and I just want to thank those who stood by me."
Baldwin, who has been confronted by two family emergencies in the last week-and-a-half, was more philosophical about the unknown outcome. "I'm fine," he said late Wednesday afternoon. "Maria and I differ on the issue of the casino, but in general I think she has the best interests of Plymouth at heart. Whatever happens, happens."
As the biggest winner in the race, Colburn made it clear the city was not out of hot water with the Plymouth Pipeline. The city hastily cancelled a special meeting Monday that was initially advertised prior to the election as good news on the water rates front.
"For the most part, I feel good about the election," he admitted. "But it doesn't change the fact that we still have to wrestle with the pipeline. Last week we were told that the bids had come in low enough that we likely wouldn't have to raise rates. Now that the Amador Water Agency has gone through the bids, some new expenses have been added back onto the city. The council's not happy about the situation at all."
Colburn added that his other main priorities will be to stop the casino and to try to limit Plymouth to a 4 percent growth rate.
In Jackson, unofficial tallies had appointed incumbent Wayne Garibaldi returning for his first full elected term. Garibaldi won slightly more than a quarter of all votes cast in that race. "I was really surprised by the amount of support I got," Garibaldi said. "I really look forward to taking on the hard work we have ahead of us. It's important to me to get results and to do things that justify the faith the voters put in me. I think all of us on the council should be trying to do right by them."
After Garibaldi's dominating performance, things got decidedly tougher to call. Former Councilman Keith Sweet appeared safe as the second new member with 17 percent of the vote, but incumbent Al Nunes was trailing former Councilwoman Marilyn Lewis by just six votes, equating to less than a percentage point separating the two former colleagues. As in Plymouth, provisional and mail-in ballots could make the difference. Lewis acknowledged it could be some time before the winner was actually known - though by Wednesday night her focus had temporarily shifted to a special Jackson City Council meeting at which she offered her opinion on who should be appointed to the vacant seat left by Andy Rodriguez. In the end, none of the applicants Lewis recommended, including unsuccessful candidate Judy Jebian, were given the appointment.
Amador Fire Protection District Chief Jim McCart let out a sigh of relief Wednesday, after a ballot initiative to fund paid fire and emergency medical staff through a half-cent sales tax increase reached its two-thirds threshold for passage. The sales tax - providing 5 cents for every $10 - will become effective April 1, with the proceeds divvied up among the county's seven all-volunteer fire agencies.
Unofficial results had Measure M winning with 69 percent of the 16,238 votes cast. It needed 66 percent to pass, a mark a similar ballot initiative just missed in 2006, when a quarter-cent sales tax competed with a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects.
While there was no such local competition this time, McCart cited an uneasy economy as "the biggest worry we had."
"It's just a testament to the people of Amador County," he said of the measure's passage, which had widespread support from local fire chiefs, the board of supervisors and city councils, "because everybody's hurting right now."
The seven agencies, under the umbrella of the Amador Fire Protection Authority, also helped their cause by implementing a different strategy this year, working up a more detailed distribution plan and making sure Ione and Jackson Valley fire agencies were on board. The only protests came from some members of the Lockwood Fire Protection District, who lobbied for heavier consideration under the funding formula.
"The difference this time is we took a regional approach to the revenues," McCart explained. Nearby agencies like Jackson, Sutter Creek and Amador Fire will pool their resources, while those in Ione and Jackson Valley will do the same. "Now we're just going to work on getting the plan put together."
McCart stressed that the county would rely heavily on its volunteers for many years to come. "A lot of people who are not from this area don't understand why firefighters are not paid, but that's just the way it developed," he said. "The revenue from that will give us a start."
Mayor Andrea Bonham has been given another four years on the Ione City Council, but fellow Councilman Jerry Sherman will be giving his seat to Ione Planning Commissioner David Plank.
More than a thousand residents voted for the incumbent mayor, but only 664 backed Sherman, leaving him behind Plank's 832 backers.
"I'll just sail off into the sunset," Sherman philosophized, "and enjoy my retirement. I don't even feel bad about it. It's time to move on."
In order to drum up support, Plank walked the entire city, visiting everyone on the city's voter list. "There were 1,933 registered voters at the beginning of the campaign," Plank noted, "but that number rose to 2,044 by election time." Knocking on every door appears to have paid off.
"I'm very proud that the citizens of Ione chose me," said a grateful Plank. "I'm going to be working on the five commitments for the next four years, at least." The commitments Plank referred to are: maintain small town lifestyle; protect the historic downtown district; achieve the necessary infrastructure for Ione; establish a clean/green commercial/industrial development park; and, manage Ione as a business.
On the school board, P.J. Karnaze lost his seat, while incumbent Mary Walser will be joined by first-time trustees Janelle Redkey, a deputy district attorney, and Wally Upper, a retired college president. Karnaze was the only one not to include a candidate statement for the sample ballots.
Jerry Budrick contributed to this report.
| Scott Thomas Anderson |