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City Councilman Jerry Thorne was elected mayor of Pleasanton yesterday, defeating his challenger and fellow council member Cheryl Cook-Kallio.
With all of the city’s 47 precincts reporting, Thorne had 11,980, or 54.6%, of the votes cast in the mayor’s race, compared to 9,740, or 44.7%, for Cook-Kallio.
Cook-Kallio, who has two years remaining on her second four-year term on the council, will stay on the council through 2014. For Thorne, he will serve a two-year term before facing re-election in 2014, and can hold the mayor’s post for a maximum of eight years.
The city’s current mayor, Jennifer Hosterman, and council members Cindy McGovern and Matt Sullivan are stepping down this year because of term limits.
In the City Council race where McGovern’s and Sullivan’s open seats were available, Karla Brown and Jerry Pentin won election handily, with Brown garnering 8,919 votes — about 37% — and Pentin winning with 7,577 votes — about 31.5% as of late Tuesday night.
Erlene DeMarcus received 4,436 votes, nearly 18.5%, while Mike Harris, who dropped out of the race in September, pulled in nearly 13%, receiving 3,522 votes.
The election of Thorne now leaves another vacant seat on the council, which will be filled in a special election next June. In the meantime, the council will be functioning with only four voting members.
Both Thorne and Cook-Kallio battled it out for the mayor’s post at non-stop rallies throughout the election season, walking the precincts to solicit votes in Pleasanton neighborhoods and at public events, including standing with their campaign workers every Saturday at Farmers Market in downtown Pleasanton.
Although Cook-Kallio generated widespread support from city firefighter and employee unions as well as municipal and regional leaders from around the state, too few of them were registered voters in Pleasanton to top Thorne, who had support from more city, civic and business organizations and individuals who live here.
Thorne was first elected to the City Council in a special election June 7, 2005, and then re-elected by wide margins in November 2006 and again in 2010.
A retired executive from Hewlett Packard, he has lived in Pleasanton for more than 30 years with his wife Sandi, and where they raised their daughter Keri.
Thorne said Wednesday that he and the two new council members will be sworn in at the beginning of the meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4 in the council chambers at 200 Old Bernal Ave. After the public swearing in, the newly-constituted council will hold its first meeting.
“I plan to hit the ground running without delay,” Thorne said. “Among the first actions, I plan to ask the council to join with me in possibly changing the structure of our public meetings. Sometimes it just takes too long to actually get to the agenda we have before us.”
One suggestion Thorne will make is to limit the time of public comments at the start of the meeting, adding time at the meeting’s end for more comments.
“All too often, those who are on the meeting’s agenda have to wait until late in the evening to make their presentation,” Thorne said. “I want to hear those who are on the schedule at a reasonable time and then we can take more public comments. We’ll stay as late as it takes to everyone who wants to talk.”
Thorne also wants to establish a performance measure for the council so that the public can assess on a regular basis just how its elected officials are doing. The council would set targets for measurement, such as on how well it is meeting budget goals for municipal employee benefits and salaries, how well its first responders are handling emergencies, and a broad range of other performance goals.
“Let’s determine how well we perform compared to other cities that are seen as the ‘best of class,'” he explained. “I think Pleasanton in a lot of cases will best in class, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to improve by using these performance measurement standards.”
During his HP career, Thorne held top management positions, with responsibility for a $200 million annual budget and a $40 million payroll. As manager of global procurement and facilities design, he often worked directly with the city of San Jose, including its mayor, and helped streamline services to make the city more business-friendly.
Before seeking his council seat, he served 10 years on the Pleasanton Parks and Recreation Commission. He chaired the Bernal Community Parks task force and co-authored the Save Our Community Park initiative that has resulted in the construction of three baseball fields on the Bernal property, the first part of a major new sports complex planned there.
As president of the Pleasanton Seahawks swim team, he led the effort to build the 50-meter swimming pool that is now part of the Dolores Bengtson Aquatic Center.
The union leadership has shot themselves in the foot. They put a lot of time and money into their candidates, and their candidates lost. Those elected are the ones the unions campaigned against. There will be no lost love so expect the council to take a hard-line approach to reining in the employee costs. If the unions stayed out of the elections, they would do their members a service. If you are a candidate and a group works real hard to campaign against you getting your job, you are not going to be real friendly with them once you are in office.
Congratulations Jerry!
Congratulations, Jerry. Finally, we are about to be shed of the Hippy Mayor.
I am so relieved that local support trumped partisan politics. Cook-Kallio has changed our community politics into more of the destructive party politics and pit our employees against our residents. It used to cost $5,000 to run a local campaign but now a local candidate must go up against the democratic party (I am lifetime Dem) with the cost of over $30,000.
Cook-Kallio is not a product of community involvement but was placed in office to be groomed for the democratic party for future positions. Thank goodness Demarcus lost big but I doubt we will ever be free of the big money bullies again.
Congratulations to both Jerry’s and Karla
As a business Owner it’s a move in the right direction
Well, I voted for Cook-Kallio but I’m willing to see what Jerry Thorne can do.
Congratulations to Thorne! Pleasanton was blessed this election to have two great people run for mayor.
Stan, the election is over already. As a local non-partisan community supporter of Cook-Kallio who voted for her during her first run for Council, I’m kind of tired of hearing how Cheryl has no local support. You complain about destructive partisan politics so don’t you think it’s time to give the campaigning a rest and save it for the next election?
Congrats Jerry and Karla. We finally have a mayor and council that will represent the taxpayers in negotiating with the unions. We still have 77% of the budget going to personnel expenses and need to cut it down to 70% or less.
Congratulations New Mayor! You have worked hard & given countless hours of Community Service – Keep up the good work. Gary Schwaegerle & Family
Congratulations to Jerry and Jerry. Mayor-elect Thorne won by over 10 %.!! Along with Erlene being beaten by considerably more than that, should send a message to our unions.
Stacey,
I think it is an opportunity to reenforce the message of nonpartisan local elections in hopes that future candidates ( Cook-Kallio future campaigns) will be mindful of our involved community. I do think it is the right time to point out that this proves that the majority of her support came from outside Pleasanton.
Stacey I will not tell you, to not express your concerns and opinions, if you do not tell me to not express mine.
The commie/gubmint union agenda may have won on a national scale, but not in the Tri-Valley. If only we could succede from California.
So glad that nut-case Hosterman will be gone. Can we finally get some fast food restaurants in our town? I hate having to go to Dublin for a Carls Jr or Wendy’s because our previous nut-case Mayor was anti-fast food so we all had to suffer.
OK Stan,
I did not tell you not to express your opinions. I asked you whether you think it is time to take a break from campaigning. I think it is time for a break since the election is over. The constant anti-union partisan chatter against Cook-Kallio on this website has been exhausting. Cheryl didn’t bring that to Pleasanton. Thorne wasn’t the only one to benefit from such partisanship. Karla’s showing in the Council race against the union-endorsed candidates certainly proves it. I don’t think I’m the only one surprised by Karla placing in front of Pentin, who was endorsed also by Thorne.
Thank you for the great artical.
BTW – (to “annonymous”) Mayor Hosterman is a wonderful mayor – and she will be missed when she leaves. Thank you Jennifer for your many years of service as Mayor.
Congrats on the win. I like both candidates for the simple fact they both supported the Lin initiative which made both business sense for our community and would also allowed for ample open space. Can you help them win this time? Sorry if I am not accurate in thinking they both supported that effort if it is not the case.
Stacey,
What are we playing Jeopardy : ) ? Even putting it in the form of a question, you were implying that my concerns should not be expressed because the election is decided.
Yes, I think this is an appropriate time to analyze the results. I believe the public awareness of where Cook-Kallio support comes from is important and the election results show that.
Brown received 12,460 votes, Thorn received 11,890 votes, Pentin received 10,624 votes, and LAST was Cook-Kallio with 9,740. This is a telling message. I saw very little local support for her, none in my neighborhood or among anyone who I spoke with. I saw a lot of students from Fremont wearing her shirts, one of them called me and asked me to vote for her and Stark. Her endorsements were from Unions, politicians and supporters from out of Pleasanton. I think it is important for her to hear that that we see it and it matters to Pleasanton citizens.
Brown’s top vote is because she was the only candidate that had a clear message of controlled growth and genuinely committed to pension reform. I hope the rest of the council hears that those are significant concerns to Pleasanton residents.
Congratulations to Jerry & the Thorne Family for fulfiling their hometown dream of leading Pleasanton in public service!
Don’t worry about Cheryl; she has plenty on her workday plate as she continues to be a prominent civics teacher at Fremont’s Irvington High. She has clearly juggled daytime school work in Fremont with nighttime-weekend work in Pleasanton very well, earning praise from both sides of the city’s aisles. Cheryl is far more open-minded and less biased than she is made out to be.
And like it or not, the Hosterman Era has been very much the most successful growth period that Pleasanton has ever had. Just look at the numbers and the aisle-crossing respect she has earned. As a Vintage Hills resident from 1999 to 2012, I’m very proud of how the Mayor has connected with her city.
I admit it. I respect/don’t mind true opinions. I hate twisted ones (that manipulate others’ words). Therefore, I echo all congratulations to Jerry Thorne and side with Stacey has far as perspective thoughts go. The other side clearly clouds its opinions with horribly divisive and misguided passions (free speech shouldn’t always mean reckless rhetoric). That example explains why gridlock continues from top down, even as the national election has spread the opposite message.
Pleasanton will remain under fine leadership. The future has and will continue to remain bright!
D W from Livermore or is it Vintage Hills like you say (huh?), sounds like something Jennifer or Cheryl would say.
One of the issues I have is that with Cheryl and her side, it seems to be all about her. Who else would describe someone as a “prominent civics teacher.”
Matt Campbell was never a showboat self-promotor with words like “prominent” in his description as his role of being a civics teacher.
Also Matt Campbell would never say something like: “The other side clearly clouds its opinions with horribly divisive and misguided passions (free speech shouldn’t always mean reckless rhetoric).” On brother.
Hosterman did not connect with the city. Residents abandoned her when she changed tunes and became the developer’s maven. Glad we are rid of Hosterman and soon to be rid of Cheryl from the city council.
So will Cheryl retire in Hawaii, perform gay marriages and serve as a consultant to the Communist party?
To Concerned: we’ll have to wait to see if karla is responsible to taxpayers. She’s under a tight grip of ecco extremists. Her team leaders were Matt Sullivan, McGovern, and Matt Morrison. Let’s just hope she not as rigid, narrow-minded, and extreme as they are. Keep you eyes and ears open. We’ll have to keep watch on her, to keep her in line. It’s a toss-up between some of those ecco extremists and unions.
“And like it or not, the Hosterman Era has been very much the most successful growth period that Pleasanton has ever had.”
Are you refering to the growth in employee compensation, pension debt, and unfunded public employee retiree health care debt? Hosterman & Pico have sold-out the public by promoting/approving bad contracts with ridiculous increases in both raises & pension benefits, while shortening the amount of years required to start collecting which increases the cost substantially.
Hosterman is very much responsible for the growth in unfunded employee pension & healthcare liabilities that totals at least 180 million dollars today. That’s quite a burden being piled on the backs of taxpayers Just So she can retain the political/financial support of her union donors.
Usually the term-out plan for area local officials are they become a ‘consultant’ to James Tong/the Lins such as Tom Pico.
Govt Code 87406.3 put a stop to that however. See the regulations ===> //www.fppc.ca.gov/legal/regs/current/18746.3.pdf stopped that.
Now local officials must wait 12 months. By that time, they have lost most of their insider value to the developer. Hosterman won’t be able to work for a developer like Tom Pico did right after he termed out.
For the “winners” who are so happy with the election results, you certainly sound nasty as you continue your attacks. Please reread your posts and hear yourselves. If this attitude is a reflection of those you support, I am really concerned for the future of this community. It certainly doesnt feel inclusive or productive, rather full of vindictive ideology and separatist goals. Our newly elected officials certainly have a job in front of them if this is what they plan to unite in our community.
The quality of our lives will be determined by our actions, not our politicians.
Stacey, Cheryl is the one who brought the partisan politics to Pleasanton. That started in her first election. Prior to that, there was no party involvement in our local elections.
The reason that Karla won is the community still feels that protections of the ridges and hills are important and they wanted somebody to stand up to the developers. I think maybe you are surprised that the rest of the voters do not feel as you do. The rest of the candidates supported the developers in the last elections/measures so it is obvious that Karla got the most votes.
While Cheryl will be in office for another two years, she terms out then. She can decide to run against Jerry again in two years but the incumbent has the advantage plus Jerry won over her this election.
Sorry Jay, speaking of Cheryl’s first election, see what can be dug up? http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-153043901.html I don’t see Cheryl’s name there!
Kallio was elected in 2006 not because of her contributions to the Pleasanton community (name one issue in Pleasanton or one tangible thing she did in Pleasanton prior to 2006 with the appropriate web link) but because of her Democratic political machine endorsements which in November 2006 are listed here http://www.smartvoter.org/2006/11/07/ca/alm/vote/cook-kallio_c/endorse.html
Assemblymember Alberto Torrico
State Senator Liz Figueroa
John Dutra, Former Assemblymember
Bill McCammon, Alameda County Fire Chief
Jennifer Hosterman, Mayor of Pleasanton
Erlene DeMarcus, Former BART Director
Ken Mercer, Former Pleasanton Mayor
Matt Campbell, Former Pleasanton City Councilmember
Tim Sbranti, Former Dublin City Councilmember
James Kohnen, Board of Directors, Zone 7 Water Agency
Ana Apodaca, Newark City Council
Anu Natarajan, Fremont City Council
Bob Wasserman, Mayor of Fremont
Bob Wieckowski, Fremont City Council
Peggy Herndon, Fremont School Board
Nina Moore, Fremont School Board
Anna Muh, Former Fremont School Board
Pat Kohnen, President, Dublin School Board
She claimed 20 years of public service, but unless you consider working on partisen political campaigns in the Democratic party political machine in Fremont and in Newark, it is hard to figure out exactly what reaults these 20 years of public service actually entailed in Pleasanton. Rather than utilize local volunteers to run her campaign in 2006, she was elected in 2006 after hiring a Democratic party machine based firm called Alliance Campaign Strategies.
Alliance Campaign Strategies is here http://www.alliancecampaigns.com/aboutus.html. One of the members is Angela Ramirez Holmes. The other is Vice Chair of the Alameda County Democratic Central committee named Royce Kelley who is the Region 6 Director.
Their tactic seems to get the Democratic endorsement (easy because 3 of them are on the Democratic Party political committees that make the endorsements) and then send a bunch of fancy mailers out to the community, funded primarily by high powered developers and unions.
Works in Chicago, Newark, Fremont.
In Pleasanton, not so much.
Jeez what is this, a contest for who volunteers with your select organizations the most? Just because YOU didn’t know her in your personal sphere before 2006 doesn’t mean she never volunteered locally. She got elected in 2006 because local people knew her. Unknown first-time candidates don’t get elected around here otherwise.
Here’s your web link: http://www.smartvoter.org/2006/11/07/ca/alm/vote/cook-kallio_c/bio.html
“Her volunteer service includes being a Girl Scout Leader, a Cub Scout Leader, school volunteer, Amador Friends of Music board member and past president, and Amador High School We the People volunteer.”
Stacey you made the point. Other than personal volunteerism (for her kids) Cook-Kallio had no community involvement prior to running for council in 2006, she came out of nowhere (or out of the democratic party). Her support was and still is predominately from out of Pleasanton and Democratic Party support, and past students.
I do not intend to be caustic, this discussion is not about whether Cheryl is nice or a good teacher, she is. This is not about gloating or celebrating a victory, I was not a significant player in anyone’s campaign but I am a longtime involved community member. I do respect a candidate who has worked for the community before asking for the title, and local issues are healthier without the partisanism and money bullies.
The candidates talk to a lot of residents during the campaign season, but with little exception they hear what people think they want to hear. The election results tell something very different and that is important. For thousands of people their vote will be the only time they communicate with the City Council and I would hope the Council would listen.
I hope Thorne and Pentin hear this message also. They quietly talked the talk, now will they walk the walk?
Final count 100% reported
Brown received 12,886 votes, Thorne received 12,259 votes, Pentin received 10,972 votes, and last was Cook-Kallio with 10,103. This is a telling message. Brown was the only candidate that had a clear message of controlled growth and genuinely committed to pension reform. I hope the rest of the council hears that these are significant concerns to Pleasanton residents.
Stan,
I don’t find it meaningful to compare vote counts like that between the mayoral and council elections. There were 22,485 total votes in the “pick one” mayoral race. If each of those voters cast their two votes for the “pick two” council race, the total vote count should have been about 44,970, not 34,748. It means that the council race is missing about 5,000 voters compared to the mayoral race. Only 77% of the mayoral voters voted for council. I’m probably grossly playing with the numbers at this point, but 77% of 12,886 council votes translates into 9922 comparable votes to Thorne and Cook-Kallio.
I understand the difference in statistical value, and very likely many 2nd council votes were not used to give a preferred candidate an advantage. no one could use both votes for the same council candidate and I am not referring to percentage.
Simply put 12,886 people voted for Brown, 12,259 people voted for Thorne, 10,972 people voted for Pentin, and 10,103 people voted for Cook-Kallio. Easy breezy and meaningful : )
And 23,971 people didn’t vote for Karla. Simple and meaningful. (BTW, the election numbers are updated again.)
Sorry Stacey, you are too negative about a great candidate. I got to know Karla recently, and I am very impressed with her. I voted for Karla AND for Jerry P. This does not mean my vote for Jerry is a “didn’t” vote for Karla, because I DID vote for her.
Clearly with the new numbers, 14,096 people want HER in office, and that is significantly more voters voting FOR her, than any other candidate in this election, including the mayoral election.
BTW, your math is flawed. I know many people voted just for Karla, or just for Jerry P. Your math does not take that into consideration.
Actually by the time the votes are all counted including the vbm ballots taken to precincts on voting day, statistically between 18,000 and 19,000 would have voted for Karla, maybe more.
Stacy and Sam,
This blog was to congratulate the winners. Not about who got the most votes and why. It is what it is and there are winners and losers. Losing is painful(I have been there) but it is a fact of life. Win or lose you should move on and give the new council a chance.
Stacy, If you keep responding to Sam it will go on forever and it is counter productive. If you and Sam want to keep bantering back and forth start your own blog.
To Positive:
It is time to move on. The election is over. Stop hasing it out.
The negative comments are not from supporters of the winners but from people who are not happy with the results.
GIVE THE NEW COUNCIL A CHANCE.
I am looking forward to a new start and new Mayor/City Council. Congratulations to all of the winners and thanks to all of the candidates for being involved in Pleasanton.
I have been alittle surprised that union and political parties have been getting so involved in municipal elections. The fancy brochures and the long list of elected officials from other cities and districts, not to mention the support from the respective political parties without any knowledge of local issues, kinda turned me off. I realize union (prevailing wages) and pension issues trigger much of it. And I suppose also, if a councilmember is being groomed to move quickly on to State Assembly or Senate position. It still feels like a special interest promotion to me.
Stop it, I couldn’t agree with you more!!
Stop it, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood ,
A bit self righteous and full of yourself maybe? When did you get appointed rule-maker of the bloggesphere? Gimme a break, if you don’t like don’t participate.
George M. wrote: “BTW, your math is flawed. I know many people voted just for Karla, or just for Jerry P. Your math does not take that into consideration.”
If everyone who cast a vote in the mayoral race also cast two votes in the council race, then there are roughly 10,000 votes missing from the council race. In other words, 23% of the mayoral voters only picked one for council rather than two.
Dear Stacey,
And some people may have voted for Mayor and not for council. The fact still remains, like it or not, OVER 14,000 voters want Karla as their representative on the council, and that is a fact.
Do you even know her, or are you making your mind up based on rumors and heresay?
George M,
Yes, I’m aware of the assumption I am making about the number of voters between the two races for lack of actual data, which needs to occur when trying to make a _comparison_ between the races. It is also possible that more ballots were cast in the council race than in the mayoral race. If the council race were for one seat between two candidates, the numbers would be more similar to the mayoral race.
And yes, I do know her. You seem to be reading too much into my analysis and think I’m somehow dead set against Karla when her position in the council race is merely being used for illustrative purposes (to illustrate how union endorsement hurt both Pentin and Cook-Kallio due to national politics. All politics are local, eh?). I think it’s going to be good since government bodies need diverse voices. She’ll be the alternate voice on growth issues.
I look at it a bit differently than Stacey. Union support at the LOCAL level hurt CCK, Pentin and Demarcus. It is local pension reform that both Thorne and Brown campaigned in favor of, going forward. And they were both the only two whom rejected interviews to gain local union endorsements or mailers by city unions.
It was firemen in their off hours where i read tey were helping with event parking, campaigning at farmers market and first Wednesday (for Demarcus), and a postcard i got in the mail asking for votes for these 3, that appeared to look like collusion and dirty politics, ie you help me now, I will help you later.
I used the post cards as a – who NOT to vote for, list. Many others I talked to did the same, hence fewer voters than 2 on the council race, and in some cases, a few more votes for the non-candidate, Mike Harris.