Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The turnout from registered Republicans was 48 percent (or 11,812) in our county for last week’s election, compared with only 40 percent (8,303) for Democrats — a deficit that should energize the “donkey” party here.

With a straight party-line vote, for example, candidates such as clerk-recorder Greg Diaz could have lost. In fact, a significant number of Republicans voted for Greg — throwing cold water on the “analysis” of “far right” bloggers George Rebane and Russ Steele that he was backed largely by “progressives.” Diaz received 13,632 votes, compared with 6,119 for Barry Pruett.

The higher turnout of Republicans vs. Democrats helped Sue Horne in her race for assessor against Rolf Kleinhans. Many of Sue’s supporters were loyal Republicans. Sue won handily, with 12,352 votes (61 percent), compared with 7,979 (39 percent) for Kleinhans.

It’s easy to vote nowadays, including with vote-by-mail ballots. The November election is expected to draw better turnout on both sides. As always, the people in the “middle” help decide the outcome of races around here. So why give the extremists so much air time?

Filed under: Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

The campaign for Clerk-Recorder Greg Diaz held an election party on Friday night to celebrate his victory. There were heartfelt thanks but also some humor, such as when the campaign team announced that Greg was the “first” (and then a long pause . . .) “alpaca farmer” to win election in the county.

The Treasurer of the team and her spouse presented Greg with a clock, “I’ve got San Francisco values,” pointing to a trite (and offending) phrase of his opponent that the race was about “San Francisco values” versus “Nevada County values.”

There were no political potshots, however, such as Congressman Tom McClintock’s comment at a Tea Party Patriot rally that it was time to vote out the “left wing” clerk-recorder. People attending were from all across the political spectrum, ranging from GOP Nate Beason to Democrat Pat Wynn.
The idea: To elect the most experienced and qualified to a decidedly nonpartisan post with more narrowly defined skills. It worked — albeit with the usual round of personal attacks along the way. Still, wonders never cease around here.

(photo credit: Jack Foster)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 9 Comments »