Clendenen, Fennell Head To Run-Off Election

California voters back 99, flunk 98; Smith re-elected easily

Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/4/08
By Charles Douglas

EUREKA -- Sometimes you can win the most votes and lose the election, as was the case last night for the late Supervisor Roger Rodoni, who edged out a 16 vote victory in preliminary results released by Humboldt County Elections but fell far short of the majority vote needed to force another appointment by Governor Schwarzenegger to the seat temporarily held by Rodoni's wife, Johanna.

Instead, the top two living contenders for the 2nd District seat will advance to a November run-off election, with Fortuna business owner Clif Clendenen clearly in the driver's seat after receiving a preliminary total of 2,417 votes, or 36.5% of the total. His opponent will be ex-radio news host Estelle Fennell of Redway, who finished in third place with 1,773 votes, or 26.8%.

Humboldt voters will not get the opportunity to vote in a run-off for the other two seats, however. Supervisor Jimmy Smith won in a landslide to retain his 1st District seat, with 3,691 votes or 71.7% of the uncertified count, while his opponent, Ferndale dairyman John Vevoda finished with 1,451 votes or 28.2%.

In the 3rd District, which saw a competitive election for the first time in 12 years, an incredibly low turnout rate of 28%, in part due to the timing of the election designed to exclude the votes of students, faculty and staff of Humboldt State University out of town for the summer, bore out a win for consultant and lobbyist Mark Lovelace with 2,454 votes or 52.6%. Lovelace massively outspent his opponents, stock broker Bryan Plumley who garnered 1,600 votes or 34.3% and Arcata Councilmember Paul Pitino who finished third with 595 votes or 12.8%.

The electorate across California fairly well agreed with Humboldt County voters on the two ballot initiatives concerning eminent domain. The anti-rent control Prop. 98, backed by the Farm Bureau, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the landlord lobby, was handily defeated by nearly a million votes statewide, with only 39% of California voters in favor and 41% in Humboldt specifically. The competing measure to emplace more moderate restrictions on the eminent domain authority of local and state government, Prop. 99, won the support of 62.5% of voters statewide and 61.9% of those in Humboldt.

The only local ballot initiative was Measure C, an educational facilities bond for the McKinleyville Union School District. It passed 1,340 to 1,012 in the uncertified results, giving it a margin of victory of nearly 14%.

Money also made the difference in partisan primaries for the North Coast's 1st Congressional District. Five-term incumbent Congressman Mike Thompson, flush with millions from agricultural, armament and other industries, cruised to yet another win with 52,316 votes or 87.8% over his unfunded opponent, Fort Bragg journalist Mitch Clogg, who got 7,463 votes or 12.2%. On the Republican side, businessman Zane Starkewolf outspent and outran defense attorney Douglas Pharr to score a 54-46% win. Albion-based psychologist Carol Wolman advanced to the general election as well, running uncontested in the Green Party primary.

There was no contest to speak of for the local 1st Assembly District, as former State Senator Wes Chesbro of Arcata and retired law enforcement officer Jim Pell advanced uncontested from their respective Democrat and Republican primaries.

Although it took him several unsuccessful races for Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District and Humboldt County Board of Education, Eureka social worker Jake Pickering has evidently overcome his losing streak and won himself a seat on the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee for the 4th District. Pickering is only 4 votes ahead of incumbent Bob Service in preliminary results, 560 to 556. The Service family will continue to serve on the HCDCC though, as Pam Service easily won re-election with 720 votes, along with incumbents Charlene Cutler-Ploss and Richard Marks, who received 755 and 743 votes, respectively. The other HCDCC districts saw incumbents re-elected without opposition, as did all the incumbents on the Republican Central Committee.

The Libertarian, American Independent and Peace & Freedom parties continue to be completely unorganized in Humboldt County with no candidates filed for their Central Committee or County Council seats, while all 7 incumbents on the Green Party County Council will lose their seats this month, as not one of them bothered to file for re-election. This will leave the Greens without elected representation locally for the first time in over a decade, as their voter registration numbers and organizational impact continues to plummet following a bitterly contested County Council contest in 2006 which led to the purging of Greg Allen, Xandra Manns and other elected leaders at the hands of a clique led by former attorney David Cobb of Eureka.

Rounding out local election news was the uncontested election of Joyce Hinrichs to the Superior Court Judge seat being vacated by the retiring J. Michael Brown. Hinrichs will not face an election challenge through 2014.