Editorial Editorial (July 08, 2005)

Special elections well worth the cost

Retired business executive Jerry Thorne took his seat on the Pleasanton City Council Tuesday night after winning a spirited and necessary special election earlier this month. He fills the seat vacated by Councilwoman Jennifer Hosterman when she was elected mayor last November. Some taxpayers have complained that their money shouldn't have been wasted on a special election that cost an estimated $150,000. They argue that Thorne, who finished a close third in the November election that saw Cindy McGovern and Matt Sullivan elected, should have been appointed to fill the empty seat. That would have cost taxpayers nothing, spared the tens of thousands of dollars spent on the June campaigns, and allowed the council to move faster on deciding issues instead of waiting six months for the fifth, and possibly tie-breaker, seat to be filled.

But while many cities allow their City Council to fill a vacancy by a majority vote, Pleasanton does not. Faced with a similar predicament more than 10 years ago, the council chose to fill vacancies only by a special election. When Councilman Ben Tarver was elected mayor in 1992, that freed up his council seat, which like Hosterman's, had another two years of its four-year term to run. Becky Dennis, in her second bid for the council, had, like Thorne, narrowly lost that election and the council had the option of appointing her to fill Tarver's unexpired term, or asking voters to make the decision. They called for an election, and, again like Thorne, Dennis won. To make sure that process would continue the council in 1993 adopted an ordinance requiring a special election to fill any vacancy. We think that was a good decision and that special elections are well worth the cost.

Naming a runner-up, or for that matter, any Pleasanton resident a majority on the council favors, is a quick, cheap and expedient way of keeping the council fully staffed. It can also lead to favoritism should a majority on the council want to ensure that their political views are matched. By having a special election, the voters make that decision. This process also allows an opportunity for those who never thought about running for council or who opted to stay out of the general election to try for the office. We saw that June 7 when Planning Commissioner Brian Arkin and businessman Dan Faustina threw their hats in the ring shortly after Thorne announced that he would try again. Arkin finished less than 500 votes behind Thorne, and Faustina just over 1,500 votes behind, not bad for two candidates seeking election for the first time against Thorne, who had been on the ballot twice before. Arkin and Faustina are better positioned now to make another try next year when three council seats will be up for grabs, including Thorne's and also Councilman Steve Brozosky's and Mayor Hosterman's, who all can run again.

This month's election proved to be a very competitive, lively campaign that brought to the voters' attention many key municipal issues the city faces. It also produced a respectable turnout of 9,285 registered voters in an off-year, out-of-sync election that many said afterward that they knew nothing about. Next November will be different, with the mayor and City Council candidates competing for voter attention in congressional, gubernatorial, state legislative and Pleasanton school board campaigns. That no doubt will heighten the interest and the competition in our local council race.

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