Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Councilmember Steve Blanton

Blanton breaks two-term pledge, plans to run again

By Jeff Kearns

Councilmember Steve Blanton, who said he would serve only two terms on the Town Council when he was first elected, announced last week that he will be seeking a third term in November.

Blanton says he recently reconsidered his stance after supporters asked him to run again, and because he doesn't think his views as a fiscal conservative will be represented if he steps down.

"I remember saying what I did in 1990, but I'm faced with a dilemma of honoring that or letting everything slide that I've done since I've been on the council," he said. "Term limits are generally a good idea, but they should apply to everyone."

Blanton won his seat on the council, his first elected post, in 1990, after a running a grassroots campaign that involved a bare-bones budget and a lot of door-to-door campaigning. It was a different story in 1994, when his re-election campaign was the best financed in the race, bringing in more contributions than any other candidate's.

Three seats are up for grabs this year, when the terms of Joanne Benjamin, Randy Attaway and Blanton will expire. Benjamin is finishing up her fourth term on the council.

Candidates for council won't be able to file their papers until July 13. The deadline for declaring a candidacy is Aug. 7.

Blanton says he started hearing from constituents, who asked him to run again in letters, phone calls and even in the supermarket; he talked to about 150 people before making his decision.

Blanton, a speech teacher at Evergreen College in San Jose, served as vice mayor during his second term. He was expected to become mayor in 1996, but his opposition to a proposed utility-users tax convinced colleagues on the council he wouldn't represent the majority position in the campaign for the tax, and they passed him over. The council elects the mayor, who serves for a one-year term.

Blanton also made a run for District 1 supervisor in 1997, but lost to Gilroy Mayor Don Gage.

Gage will be endorsing the councilmember in his campaign. The two got acquainted while running for the supervisorial seat last year. Because they were the only two Republicans candidates in the field, each promised to endorse the other if there was a runoff.

Gage told Blanton that he should seek a third term when the councilmember asked his opinion. "If you're doing a good job, you ought to run again," he said. "As long as you can handle it, why quit?"

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