Red Words

Of the ballots counted so far, less than 150 votes separate second-place finisher Pete Aguilar from third place finisher Nancy Ruth White.

That difference is the difference between victory and maybe running again sometime. White on Thursday visited the Registrar of Voters office to find out if enough ballots remain uncounted to change the outcome.

White said she was informed that about 5,600 absentee ballots from across the county remain uncounted, as are about 1,200 provisional ballots. However, it's not yet known how many of those untallied are from Redlands.

The Registrar of Voters' next vote-count update is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday. White remains hopeful that she could still win a council seat, but said she is not considering a recall if things get really close.

"At this point, that's not really in my head," she said.

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The San Bernardino County Taxpayers Coalition, an independent expenditure committee that reported spending close to $3,000 on phone calls and mud-slinging mailers wasn't very successful in knocking down their targets.

Late in the campaign, the Coalition dispatched hit pieces attacking newspaper executive Jerry Bean and retired teacher Nancy Ruth White. The futility of the pieces can be measured in the fact that Bean emerged as the top vote getter and White finished in a competitive third place.

Bean and incumbent Pete Aguilar won the two seats that were up for grabs this year. Some of the same campaign donors who supported Aguilar gave money to the Coalition. Aguilar, who was himself targeted by a negative phone call, disavowed the mail pieces.

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most precincts have reported vote totals. Here are the early figures.

City Council:

Candidate Votes Percentage
JERRY BEAN 3179 22.34%
PETE AGUILAR 2489 17.49%

NANCY RUTH WHITE 2319 16.30%
JEFF SCERANKA 2190 15.39%
GILBERTO GIL 1929 13.55%
HENRY WILLIAM NICKEL 1079 7.58%
EDDIE TEJEDA 1026 7.21%

Write-In 20 0.14%

City Clerk
LORRIE POYZER 4840 66.30%
JOELL ACKERMAN 2426 33.23%

Write-In 34 0.47%

City Treasurer
MICHAEL REYNOLDS 4475 88.88%

Write-In 560 11.12%

Measure F (Distribution Center Tax)
YES 5200 69.84%
NO 2246 30.16%

Please check this blog later Wednesday for additional reporting.

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 1:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Incumbent Gilberto Gil reported a $1,000 donation from the National Staff Assault Task Force on Nov. 2.

That specific group didn't come up on a Google search, but an organization called the California Staff Assault Task Force was listed on a Web site that listed nonprofits. That group was listed with the same address as the organization listed on Gil's report.

Gil is a California parole officer, and the California Staff Assault Task Force describes itself as a nonprofit that sues prison inmates on behalf of guards who are assaulted. The organization's mascot is a hardcore-looking bull wielding a gavel.

Gil has also filed an amended financial disclosure showing contributions received between Sept. 23 and Oct. 20. A $5,000 campaign donation now shows its source as being from the Redlands Police Officers Association, when the money was previously reported as being from the Redlands City Federal Employees Credit Union. The check was written from the police union's account at the credit union.

The amended report shows that the POA gave Gil $5,150 during the recent reporting period, which is a crazy amount of money.

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The seven City Council candidates gathered for another cordial forum Thursday night in the old council chambers at Safety Hall. As I wrote in an article that's scheduled to print in Saturday's edition of The Sun, the last question of the night was both the easiest to answer and the one that summarized the 2007 campaign:

Here's the question: "In view of five years of failed fiscal management, does any incumbent deserve another chance?"

No surprises in the responses. The two incumbents, Pete Aguilar and Gilberto Gil, said they should get another four years. The five challengers - newspaper executive Jerry Bean, rail analyst Henry Nickel, finance company president Jeff Sceranka, college student Eddie Tejeda and retired teacher Nancy Ruth White - replied that it was time for new people to be elected.

For anyone to answer otherwise would have made as much sense as a candidate telling voters than his or her opponent could do a better job.

Continue reading "Redlands Stays Classy" »

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dramatis Personae:

Pete Aguilar, Redlands City Council incumbent
Jerry Bean, Century Group Newspapers president
Gilberto Gil, Redlands City Council incumbent
Henry Nickel, Riverside County Transportation Commission analyst
Jeff Sceranka, Enterprise Funding Corp. president
Eddie Tejeda, Cal State San Bernardino student
Nancy Ruth White, retired Redlands Unified School District teacher

The Scene:
Candidate forum at Redlands Country Club banquet hall on the evening of Oct. 12, 2007.

I wrote a short article on the forum for Saturday's edition of The Sun. Here's some more info for readers who want to know more.

Continue reading "Oct. 12 Candidate Forum" »

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 1:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a little bit more than a month to go before voters go the polls and the City Council campaign has yet to become a frenzy, but here's hoping things get a little more interesting in the near future as candidates make a push to win over absentee voters before the final round of campaigning sets in.

I did learn today that the San Bernardino County Republican Party Central Committee endorsed two candidates - Henry Nickel and Jeff Sceranka. The pair have also won the backing of the conservative California Republican Assembly.

Continue reading "The GOP weighs in" »

Posted by Andrew Edwards at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)