Robin and I went to my friend Patrick Higgins election BBQ to celebrate the election results. Pat kicked buttocks from absentee on in the Harbor District race. No real surprise. Landslide victory. Patrick worked hard and deserved this position.
Robin lagged behind in the absentee votes. Collen had 1608 Miller at 1374 and Robin at 1273. Pat was upbeat at Robin's numbers and others at the event were confident that those numbers were conservative voters and Robin would be there in the end. The next update Collen was at 1658 Miller was 1395 and Robin at 1355. Not looking good for the Rural Samoa candidate. Oh well, we did our best. The next update Collen was 2043 Robin was 1750 and Miller at 1614! The crowd at Patrick's celebration was celebrating in overtime! A loss turning into victory. The final vote count was 3065 for Collen 2701 for Robin 2429 for Miller and 1873 for Young.
There are too many people to thank for this win. Robin had to go from no name recognition against two big name opponents in Mckinleyville and Arcata and garnered a position on the board. She wanted to run for the board if no incumbents were running. She hoped for no opposition, but that did not happen. People in this campaign knew she was the "reluctant candidate" and was uncomfortable campaigning for this position. This was truly a grass roots "progressive" win. Thanks to all.
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35 comments:
Won? Won? The Times-Standard clearly declared Dan Collen defeated three challengers.
Meanwhile, the Eureka Reporter apparently doesn't consider our high school elections worthy of mention.
It makes me proud to live in a community served so well by two daily newspapers.
Bad for the T-S. Two seats were open with two elected, one of them Robin Marks.
http://www.smartvoter.org/2007/11/06/ca/hm/school.html
Congrats to Rich and Robin. They probably owe it all to this blog.
Congrats to Robin. This time the voters made the right decision.
The (North Coast) Journal also doesn't consider our schools that important.
Suddenly the harbor district is important to people? Keep dreaming. No one cares about that because #1 they'll never walk a trail and #2 they're not dreaming of riding to the bay area because local media declared that will never happen. Most people probably didn't know the harbor district even existed, yet it's more important than our schools. Shame on the newspapers for putting our kids last.
Congratulations, Robin!
The grassroots never sleep.
Very nice work Robin!
-boy
Yay, Robin! Congratulations and good job on all your hard work. I have one kid currently in the NHUHSD system and two to go, and look forward to having you on the board.
Nice to meet you two last night, too!
Good Job Robin
You won the elections cause of the peoples faith in you. Good luck with all the hard work that a waits you
Rick
PS And to Richard and the staff, good job gang.
Congratulations!
Yea for Robin. Well run campaign, and a well deserved victory.
Congratulations.
No ex-commie = no press. Even the Arcata Eye gave more attention to the harbor district race, and nobody in Arcata could even vote in it! The rails/trails and port development debates are important, but it was annoying that they eclipsed the school board race.
Anyway, congratulations Robin! I'm eager to start working with you.
I think part of the reason is that the Harbor Commission race represented the same culture war which governs the DA and Supervisors races. All the same players, with continuing drama.
In a low turn out off cycle election the loons who will believe anything turned out to vote about "rails and trails" How dumb. Lie#1. All the current members support all trail and rail possibilities so no one stopped a trail program. Lie #2. Conservation was not a burning issue for the current members. I'm sure the late conservation director is turning in his grave over that lie. You've won an election with your heads up your asses.
Congrats Robin! You deserve it. Prud to call you and Rich our good friends, Steve and Diane
When Charles beat Elsebusch in 2003 the turnout was 26.3%
This time the turnout was 30.5 %
That's still low, but not as low. Maybe Higgins brought more people out to vote?
I stayed neutral in that race, for a variety of reasons. But I don't think it's fair to say that Pat won because there was a low turnout and only "loons" voted.
Opinions are changing in this community. Plus, Charles was promising things that he couldn't deliver, at least not in the time frame that he was giving. I was highly skeptical about Charles' proposal for a deep water port, but I also have many concerns about putting a trail where the tracks are.
A lot of people don't fall in one camp or the other. But I think that a lot of those same people decided it was time for a change. Obviously there are other things that contributed to Pat's victory, but I think that was a significant part of it.
Any other interpretations of the results?
I've got one. Rail is dead.
Alright Richard, you are messing me up with this new layout.
Very nice by the way!
-boy
Shane,
I miss-read the "real read" in this race in a BIG way.
I have worked many campaigns winning some and losing some but I have always had an idea of the range, or point spread, we were expecting to be within. Just a feel for the race. I expected it to be a close race that could go either way. In no way could I imagine a 30% spread.
I was right-on with you. And as you may know, I talked to Richard about 4pm yesterday and was on there as well.
A couple of facts 2003, turnout was 27.57% about 3% less than yesterday. Similar races with KT school district, CR Board, MCSD, NO Humboldt and Willow CSD. Even if Higgins got out that additional 3% it would only be 480 voters. Charles still would have lost by over 20%.
Looking at the results now I don't know if we had a shot in hell at winning this race from the beginning.
I feel it was message more than anything which includes 16 years on the job and the large decrease in bay jobs were a big factor. I don't think other issues like polution and rail were that signifant except some numbers and timelines on rail covered by the press. Trails had some traction and was a factor as well.
With all that said Pat and his Humboldt bay "keepers" did a great job on candidate training on issues and staying focussed. Discipline was there as well.
Through the last 55 days or so I have learned a few things about Charles Dems and Labor need to respect and understand. He is a proud and loyal Democrat with a Big D. He is not a progressive type but a D none the less. Whether you agree with him on some specific harbor issues, I believe there needs to be some respect given to a fellow loyalist of many decades. I guess the same goes for Roy as well. I well understand Charles strengths and weaknesses and he is no spring chicken.
The hardest part of this race for me to accept is how hard some people worked for Charles; especially his wife Carol. She walked door to door and hung signs in pouring rain and kept going and going. She is a fantastic lady.
Again I have to aplaud Pat for a successful campaign and I called Bill Kier this morning and had a great vist. With that said, I don't think I have been more disapointed in a race's outcome than this one...and this is for a Democrat.
Mike Harvey
Boy-The background has been "pimped" out. Just time for a change.
Mike wrote:
"He is a proud and loyal Democrat with a Big D. He is not a progressive type but a D none the less. Whether you agree with him on some specific harbor issues, I believe there needs to be some respect given to a fellow loyalist of many decades. I guess the same goes for Roy as well."
This is a good point, and it's a point that I tried to make to many people throughout the race. Both of the candidates were committed Democrats, as is Roy. Some of the attempts to paint Charles and Roy as conservatives and Arkley operatives reminded me of the junk people were making up about Richard when he was running for supervisor.
As for your point about him not being a progressive, I guess you would know better than I do, but from talking to him about other issues, I was under the impression that he was generally to the left of a lot of people who call themselves progressives. He's the old left, his opponents were the new-left, and a lot of the wafflers like me were people that had one foot in each camp.
You had a hard campaign. I expected it to be closer as well, but in retrospect I can see how it all happened. You assume that an incumbent will have the advantage, but sometimes too much history becomes a disadvantage.
That's what happened when I ran Meserve's campaign. I knew Dave had a fight on his hands, but I didn't expect Winkler to come in ahead of him. In retrospect, however, it all makes sense. People considered Dave to be the past. I don't know if there is any way he could have won, no matter what I did.
Anyway, I think I probably understand how you feel right now. You put up a strong fight.
ROBIN AND RICH , GREAT JOB, SEE YOU GUYS SOON. CHUCK
BIG pimpin'
WOW. I feel like I'm in Disneyland with all your new graphics and colors.
Mike, I guess 27.57% is the right number for the 2003 turnout. SmartVoter says 26.3%
That's strange. Maybe more votes were counted after the LWV posted the results?
And Richard: nice blog layout. Whoever did that for you is very talented.
Congratulations, Robin!
Nice new blog design, Richard. I like the unique look.
Shane,labor did not turn out to vote for Charles because there is no labor. Not all who voted for Pat were loons but many are. There is no rail/trail issue but one was created. Charles has always supported both. The real problem is with Pat's lack of understanding about the value to an economy,community and a harbor dist to develope and support labor especially harbor related labor. Eco-tourism won't pay the bills and when the loons and Pat figure this out our harbor and economy will no longer be viable. Lets hope that a while in a seat with real meaning will wake Pat up to reality. He is a nice man and there may be hope for him and our community.
Right out of the box, one of the biggest problems with Chuckys campaign was his choice of manager.No offence , but an anti-worker Pro Bush type won't work for a person trying to project a pro- worker platform forgotten long ago. Also, everytime Chucky spoke he made no sence!
Shane wrote:
"That's what happened when I ran Meserve's campaign. I knew Dave had a fight on his hands, but I didn't expect Winkler to come in ahead of him. In retrospect, however, it all makes sense. People considered Dave to be the past. I don't know if there is any way he could have won, no matter what I did."
I agree with this and everything else you said. Instead of progressive I should have said old-left vs. new-left. Charles is a liberal Democrat without a doubt. You and your mom know as she was a supporter of Charles.
I know talking with Charles a month ago, he would NOT have run if he knew how much was involved. He, and for that matter me as well, am impressed and honored how labor stepped up for him although it did not translate to votes.
People can be nasty at times, but from what I hear and know both Pat and Charles are good people with some different ideas. I wish Pat and the Harbor District the best.
The four people I publicly (sp) endorsed were 3 dems and one rep. (Charles, Corbett, Edwards and Gower).
First year in many (now out of the state GOP structure) I can endorse who I think is best without looking at party affiliation. It actually felt good to be able to do this.
Mike Harvey
Is it really necessary to use terms like "loons" to describe your fellow community members?
Both the "loons" and "Chucky" comments are unnecessary.
Not all absentees are conservative...my vote for Robin was cast before you got the yard sign to me. Congratulations!
No personal attacks please.
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