Decker and Glickman win
By Nathan R. Huff
Sandy Decker and Steve Glickman won seats on the Los Gatos Town Council, with Decker winning 5,104 votes, or 28.1 percent of the votes, and Glickman taking 4,808 votes, or 26.5 percent.
Decker resigned from the planning commission earlier this year, vowing to run for town council where she would have more of a voice on land-use issues. Glickman, who has served on the Los Gatos Union School District board for 10 years, made a run in the spring for the District 24 Assembly seat, but lost in the primary.
Mike Abkin, who spent some nine years on the planning commission, came in third with 4,349 votes, or 24 percent of the vote. Coming in fourth was Paul Dubois, chairman of the community services commission. He received 3,882 votes, or 21.4 percent.
After a slow start, the campaign season kicked into gear with a flurry of forums and debates, beginning Oct. 17 with the Los Gatos Weekly-Times-KCAT televised forum. That was followed by a Neighborhood Alliance Hard Questions forum Oct. 22, a Town Chamber of Commerce question and answer session Oct. 26, and a sparsely attended League of Woman Voters forum later that same evening.
None of the debates was particularly heated or adversarial, although candidates used the events to highlight the key points of their campaign platforms. Decker and Abkin made repeated references to their planning backgrounds and credentials, emphasizing issues of land use that have dominated local news in recent months. Both promised to vigorously enforce the town's recently revised General Plan, with Decker placing an emphasis on design and density and Abkin speaking more on neighborhood compatibility and regional planning.
Dubois tried to present a campaign based on "common sense" town government, pledging to use his law enforcement background to look at issues through a public safety lens. He also emphasized the neccesity of hiring an in-house senior coordinator, and presented the most detailed plan for increasing affordable housing.
Steve Glickman stands in the kitchen with his fiancée, Judy Reschke (they're getting married in 12 days), as they go over election materials and discuss their future plans.
Glickman's campaign attempted to bring in the more recent arrivals to Los Gatos, focussing on young professionals and families. Glickman's emphasized new services for the town's youth, using the skateboard park issue, which he headed, as a catalyst. He also campaigned on making development guidelines clearer, citing the numerous appeals to council as evidence that the planning process isn't objective.
The four council candidates spent almost $60,000 in their quest for council seats that pay $200 a month. It was the first election in Los Gatos Town Council history where the Internet played such a prominent role in candidate spending, despite the fact that all four hopefuls said their websites received little public attention.
Dubois raised and spent the most money, bringing in $24,209 and doling out $23,043. However the fundraising figures are somewhat misleading, since $21,100 of Dubois contributions came as loans to himself. Dubois was the only one to hire a professional campaign firm, Paramount Communications of Salinas, which handled almost all of Dubois mailing and advertising.
Decker came in second in both fundraising and spending, bringing in $20,451, $9,100 of which was loans. Decker spent $15,458, which included a $3,720 fundraiser and $3,885 on web design. She was second in individual contributions, behind Mike Abkin. Among the larger contributors was local developer Bill Errico, who donated $250 as the owner of Stor'it Los Gatos and $600 as the owner of Los Gatos Oaks.
Abkin was a close third in contributions and expenditures, though he led the field in individual contributions. Only $5,800 of Abkin's $18,299 total came from loans. He received contributions from Cornerstone of Los Gatos, the League of Conservation Voters, former councilman Tom Ferrito and planning commissioner Paul Bruno. Abkin spent $12,359, the majority of it for printing and mailing, with $112 going to his election-night bash at Rinconada Hills Clubhouse.
While Glickman trailed dramatically in fundraising and spending after the first reporting period, he loaned himself a generous amount of money in the home stretch, raising a total of $13,824. All but $724 came in the form of loans. Glickman made a late mailing rush, upping his total spending to $8,380, but was still a distant fourth.
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