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The Woodside Town Council has four open seats and five candidates running for those seats in the Nov. 6 election. With the election around the corner, The Almanac has spoken with four of the candidates, but Sean P. Scott, who is running unopposed to represent District 4, has not responded to interview requests.
The Almanac tried three times to reach Scott through Kevin Bryant, Woodside’s town manager, to learn about him and his positions, as he is likely to be seated on the seven-member Town Council in December. Bryant said he forwarded the emails to Scott and that Scott thanked him. “Any time that you sent a message to me, I passed it along,” Bryant said in a phone interview with this reporter.
Woodside council candidates must live in the district they seek to represent, but are elected by all of the town’s voters. The candidates who have spoken with The Almanac about their positions are: Dick Brown, who is running unopposed to represent District 6; Brian Dombkowski, who is running unopposed to represent District 2; and Ned Fluet and Frank Rosenblum, both of whom are running to represent District 7.
Since Brown, Dombkowski and Scott are running unopposed, they will be sworn in to the council, barring unlikely victories by write-in candidates.
Stories on Fluet and Rosenblum and their positions on issues vital to the town have already run in print and online, and both participated in a candidate forum put on by the local chapter of the League of Women Voters. (Brown told The Almanac that he tried to be included in that forum, but was refused.)
None of the candidates provided email addresses or phone contacts to the San Mateo County Elections Division for inclusion on its roster of candidates. But with the exception of Scott, the candidates did provide contact information to Woodside Town Clerk Dora Wong Seamans, who published it in a series of updates on the candidates’ filing of nomination papers.
Given that the candidates running unopposed have had no forum to introduce themselves to Woodside residents, The Almanac plans to run profiles of Brown, Dombkowski and Scott prior to the first council meeting in December, when newly elected council members are seated.
Councilman Dave Tanner, whose seat Scott would take if he is elected, said he doesn’t know Scott personally but did talk with him about being on the council. “I told him I would help him if he had any issues,” Tanner said. “He was worried about it being too much for him.”
“He’s a nice guy,” Tanner added. “I think he’ll be good for the council. He seems very intelligent. … We talked about issues and items and he caught on pretty fast.”
Bryant, when asked whether he had seen Scott at any council meetings, replied, “I don’t think so, no.”
I met Sean for the first time at a club dinner on Tuesday night where Sean was one of several guests. I was introduced to him by one of his neighbors whom I know well, and who told me that Sean was running for the District 4 seat. I was impressed with Sean, and spent a reasonable amount of time speaking with him. He was eager to talk about the town, how much he valued it and its rural lifestyle, and how he hoped to contribute back to it through the Town Council. As I recall, he told me that he had been a resident for going on ten years, and that he has two children in Woodside Elementary School. We discussed several issues about the Town, and I found his observations and objectives thoughtful, positive, and constructive. He is personable, well spoken, intelligent, and well educated. I will definitely be voting for him and supporting him 100%.
Sirs:
There is an unambiguous distinction between being appointed versus being elected to the Town Council. By appearing on the official ballot, Mssrs. Brown, Dombkowski, and Scott are in fact standing for, and presumably will be, elected to office.
By contrast, Portola Valley has chosen, at their discretion, to cancel the election for Town Council because the number of candidates did not exceed the number of open seats. The result of the cancellation is appointment rather than election to the Portola Valley Town Council.
Pronouncing, both in this article and in an earlier headline, that the uncontested seats are being appointed is factually incorrect and a disservice to the open election process that is fundamental to American Democracy.