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The streets of downtown Menlo Park were nearly empty late Tuesday afternoon – perhaps people were still waiting in line to vote; some residents reported what seemed like record turnout at the polls.
A lone woman on a corner of Alameda de las Pulgas waved a sign for Romney 2012/Catherine Carlton/Yes on Prop 32. She got to celebrate only one of those outcomes.
Ray Mueller and Ms. Carlton will join the Menlo Park City Council next year, unless there’s a shocking twist as the final vote counts trickle in. With 4,126 and 3,996 votes respectively, the newcomers shut out incumbent Kelly Fergusson, who had 3,748 votes by the end of last night, according to the county.
“I’m excited but cautiously optimistic,” Mr. Mueller said earlier in the evening as he headed for an election night party at Trellis. “If things stay the way they’re trending, I’m really excited.”
Asked about the high point and low point of campaigning, Mr. Mueller said he’d reached both in the space of 24 hours, when he received an email from someone who had voted for him, but told him she regretted it after hearing about some of his comments on issues facing the city.
He said that left him feeling sad. “There’s one thing, when you’re campaigning you start to realize that the issues facing the city can be so complex, that people really want to reduce them down to sound bites and they’re not.”
After sending an email in response and then talking to the voter this morning, Mr. Mueller said the two found accord. “That was the high point, because it confirmed for me that I’ll have the patience to listen to people and work through the issues.”
He praised the campaign for staying civil. Unlike past elections, no hit pieces turned up in the mail and if there were shenanigans, most did not reach the ears of the Almanac.
Also celebrating at Trellis was Ms. Carlton. “Well, I think it’s too early to tell… I feel like I can’t get too excited yet. Like they say, it’s not over until the fat lady sings.”
She too enjoyed her time campaigning. “It’s very exciting to me to talk to someone about ideas and have that person get so excited that they start donating their time to help out, knocking on doors and walking.” Ms. Carlton said she also appreciated what she learned about the city, which presented an orientation for candidates that introduced the role of each department, an experience she’d like to bring to all residents of Menlo Park.
Ms. Fergusson, who was seeking a third term on the council, said she had called the winners on Wednesday morning to congratulate them.
“I really appreciate their vision for future of Menlo Park,” she said. “I feel like I’m leaving the city in very good hands, and I’ve had 10 great years of community service and have really enjoyed working with the public.”
When asked whether she would manage the campaign differently in retrospect, Ms. Fergusson said she has no regrets. “I have a full-time job. I ran the campaign on my evenings and weekends — I wish I could have knocked on 200 more doors.”
Belle Haven resident and Housing Commissioner Carolyn Clarke was in fourth with 2,406 votes, leaving firefighter Dave Bragg in fifth place with 2,036.
Ms. Clarke took a break from pizza at High 5 Star in Belle Haven to share her perspective from the campaign trail. “I was in training, right?” she said with a laugh. “My biggest lesson is if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Look for her to return to the ballot, this time starting to plan a campaign 12 months ahead and making sure to line up enough donations to get the word out about her candidacy. Still, she said, it was a “first step towards unifying Menlo Park. But the work is just beginning.”
The fate of Measure K, the city’s proposal to raise the hotel tax from 10 to 12 percent, was easier to call than the council race – the yes votes remained about 73.63 percent of the total from start to finish.
Those tallies include mail ballots and early votes.
We look forward to Carolyn Clarke’s return to the ballot next time! It’s time we had better representation for Belle Haven on our city council. You have our vote, Ms Clarke!
The precipitous fall from grace of Kelly Fergusson is of note. Four years ago, she got the highest vote total of any candidate ever in Menlo Park, securing over 40% of the votes.
Her self promotion, leading to the Brown act violation and abandoning her core supporters, as evidenced by support the Bohannon project and others, as well as her leading the effort to defeat the pension measure L.
In the end, she should have not run, but her ego wouldn’t let go. When you examine previous endorsers as compared to this year, you immediately are struck by all those who refused to support her.
A question for the Alamanc. The election results aired on KTVU news this morning listed the winners as Mueller and Ferusson. I noted in the link provided in the article that the vote totals were as of the last precinct report on election night. Was the KTVU report in error, or was there a shift in the results as more votes were counted after the previous report?
There are still absentee ballots to be counted, although it would be unusual for that to change the outcome of a council election. We have not gotten any new data to suggest that’s happened yet.
Sandy
Look at the pictures. Same old tired group of electioneers buzzing around. Ray talks like he is neutral, but there he is with Winkler and Riggs and the same group of fools.
Winkler lost by epic proportions in her only re-election and now she just puppeteers with Duboc and Riggs and Boyle and Roy S.
They all cheer the demise of Slocum and Fergusson. But they are next. Out with the electioneers. Get these back stage cowards out of the system.
Truth,
I have said it before, and I will say it again. I don’t and won’t draw lines in the sand. I am proud to have gained the endorsements of Mickie Winkler and Henry Riggs, and also the endorsements of Gail Slocum and Heyward Robinson in the election. I attended two parties thrown for me last night, and residents who have been labeled from all sorts of different camps in town attended both. I have a great relationship with Kelly, and wish her well. I actually invited her to come to my election night event in the Willows for a glass of wine. I encourage you to start treating your neighbors like they are your neighbors, and to let go of the bitterness.
You would be surprised by how many “residentialists”, “pension reformers”, and “development” types were at the party last night, together. But I guess it’s easier for some to throw stones than have conversations. It certainly takes less courage.
Ray, telling every faction what they want to hear is easy when you are running. These people and the folks all over this forum have shown nothing but disrespect and trash toward volunteers. But it is one sided. These folks bash Kelly and Heyward as if the hours of time they put in somehow is just an ego run.
They take shots at Cline now and then and Keith’s husband. It is all the same people from the same side of the debate. No word about Boyle or Ohtaki. Those are their boys.
Old, white, anti-union stuff. We just saw the nation reject them with a face slap.
It starts and ends with the few folks who you broke bread with last night. If you do what you are supposed to do and lead, they will turn on you as they do all of the others.
Will you ever vote for a pay increase? They will hang you in effigy.
Support a union benefit? Again.
Will you hire another commander? Again, down you go.
Don’t approve a major development project, or the old timers will come after you.
You cannot decide for a residentialist, a developer, a union supporter and a “pension reformer” at the same time. You will have to choose. For now, you can tell them whatever you want and go to the parties.
This is when you get to preach. And I respect that.
I have defended councils for a long time here. I admire them and while I have genuine frustration with some decisions I think this forum is simply a bunch of hacks for Winkler et al. You look pretty cozy there with them.
Other than foolishly responding to anonymous comments, Mr. Mueller has shown that he has good jusgement and will serve the city well.
Regarding votes, Fergusson had the most votes four years ago because only three candidates were running for two seats. Although she was a flawed candidate, casting a vote for Cohen or Ciardella was even more difficult.
Both Duboc and Winkler had more votes on their second run, but Fergusson and others were able to trick voters into thinking that transit oriented housing was somehow a bad thing, and the Almanac played along. Many more voters made it to the city council section of the ballot than in previous years, and what should have been the Derry Project has been a blighted, rotting concrete lot for six years.
Now in 2012, by tossing Corolyn Clarke under the bus to get the Democratic endorsement, Kelly Fergusson has reminded us that she is a bully, with only her own self interest in mind. As the only council member to refuse to be interviewed by investigators from the DA’s office, Kelly Fergusson has demonstrated that she cannot be trusted.
It is a fact that Duboc and Winkler each has more votes on their second run. This information is available on the smartvoter site.
It is a fact that the Almanac did a four page spread in Novemberr of 2006, and ran a cover photo of the new council candidates, promoting the victory over the prior council. The Almanac did not mention that Duboc and Winkler has more votes than the previous run, but they did run their photos inside, with a caption suggesting the voters rejected them. The Almanac also pointed out that the unions spent $27K on hit pieces to knock out Duboc and Winkler, and promote Cline and Robinson. http://www.almanacnews.com/story.php?story_id=3070
Fergusson was knocked out this year, without a single hit piece. She did have the endorsement of the Democratic Party, appeared on their slate mailer, and was able to campaign out of the packed Democratic Volunteer Center in Menlo Park. By coming in third, with all that support in her favor, Fergusson has set a new standard for rejection by the voters.
Truth, I don’t know who your are, nor do you know me. I don’t have the good fortune of living in MP, tho have worked in town for years, and thus my interest in its issues. But I feel compelled to say to you based on your comments in your post, “get these back stage cowards out of the system”, Pot meet Kettle!
Truth (Don Brawner)
The picture does not show Winkler or Riggs with Ray or Cat. What are you talking about? Looks to me like the candidates were in conversation. And that you recognized Henry and Mickie implies you were there, since all you see are their backs in the photo.
Calling someone a coward whilst hiding behind an anonymous post is hilarious….and quite frankly pathetic.
We are people who care about Menlo Park, we volunteer our time so that Menlo Park can have Commissions, Councils, and Boards that help the city. We are always looking for open minded volunteers, come help us.
If you didn’t like the company at the party, why did you attend? Free food that important?
Regards
Roy Thiele-Sardina
Truth, every faction wants to be heard, so telling them, “I’ll listen to you”, is a great place to start. Mueller and Carlton have done a great job listening. They may even be willing to listen to people that have thrown mud. If we all give the new council the benefit of the doubt, we may all be pleasantly surprised by what they can accomplish.
Menlo Park Residents,
Why are we being so abusive to each other…we live in one city and we share a lot of great things here! With the exception of the east side of the freeway, you all have so much already…
What is the objective here? Is it just power and control? or is it truly caring for our families, children, communities, neighbors…passing on the good, building on our strengths and helping with our weaknesses!
What is it to gain the whole world (much $$$), yet have no great relationships? or know what it means to truly love others as you love yourself?
Enough bashing now!:-) Enjoy!
Dear Balanced, you make a good point. The comments that Heyward made in 2006 (below) foreshadow his own tragic end. We are fortunate that the newly elected council members have nothing but compliments for their fellow candidates.
“There’s been a lot of frustration with the current council majority,” said Mr. Robinson, the top vote-getter. “It’s pretty clear [the incumbents] have left a steady stream of people frustrated that they’re not being listened to, and the voters made a statement [on Election Day].” — November, 2006
Congratulation to Ray and Catherine. Best of luck to Ms. Fergusson in the future. Ray and Catherine were voted in on a wave of reform -primarily to return local politics to the citizen (i.e., the people that actually call Menlo Park home) and not the control of those local special interests under which the city has suffered and lost tremendous opportunities for fiscal responsibility and quality of life.
Sadly, Ms. Fergusson was too closely aligned with those special interests to couch herself as a true reformer and that’s the main reason for her loss. Mr. Ohtaki and Ms. Keith were voted in on a similar platform. Let this election be a message to city council members new and old that the public is watching. Without knowing either Ray or Catherine, I personally walked my neighborhood and knocked on doors endorsing them from the reform perspective. I will do it again in 2014 and expand my efforts if I sense more of the same insider deal making with the big public employee unions and big development interests that has plagued Menlo Park for years.
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