Mayor Ruth Asmundson made official what many have speculated in the weeks following the January 26, 2010 City Council Meeting she will not seek a third term to the Davis City Council. Her decision is just one of several changes to what was shaping up to be a rather mundane council race. Right now her decision means that neither incumbent will seek re-election. Last October Councilmember Lamar Heystek announced that he would not seek re-election siting personal reasons in his decision. However, as we report above, a group of citizens is mobilizing to get him to possibly reconsider that decision.
The Mayor’s decision comes as little surprise. There was the well-publicized blow up on the dais between herself and colleague, Councilmember Sue Greenwald. Both have expressed regret for the incident, however at the time the confrontation left the Mayor badly shaken. She was rushed to the hospital, transferred to Woodland, where she remained overnight. She then spent a couple of weeks in the Phillipines, resting and recovering from the incident.
Tuesday night marked her return to the dais as the presiding officer. Two weeks ago, Mayor Pro Tem Don Saylor presided over the meeting with the Mayor present. Previously she had participated from the Phillipines via phone.
Mayor Asmundson told the Davis Enterprise Monday:
“I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished. I wish I could do more, but I’m very happy with what I have achieved, and I think it is time for me to step aside and let the younger generation take over.”
That temporarily leaves just two candidates for two open spots in the June 2010 election. However, the Vanguard has learned that there is now another candidate that has entered the race.
Rochelle Swanson, the president of the Davis High School Blue & White Foundation confirmed with the Vanguard Tuesday afternoon that she will run for council. She told the Vanguard she will have a formal announcement next week.
Two other candidates had previously announced, Joe Krovoza and Sydney Vergis who ran in 2008 and finished fourth.
What all these moves insure is that Davis will have at least one and possibly two new councilmembers come July. The last four years were unusually as all three incumbents were reelected in 2008 meaning that the current council has been together since 2004.
The Mayor was first elected in 2002 and served a first term as Mayor from 2004-2006. She had previously served on the Davis School Board and her husband Vigfus Asmundson himself had served on the Davis City Council and as Mayor.
She talked to the Davis Enterprise about her record on the council:
During her tenure, Asmundson said, she worked hard to promote the formation of council subcommittees to work on specific projects or issues. Additionally, at her urging, the city established the Business and Economic Development Commission and the Bicycle Advisory Commission, she said.
She said she also pushed for better partnerships with the university, school district and county.
Notable achievements include the formation of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency, which also involves UC Davis, as well as the establishment of the California Bicycle Museum and the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame, which elevated Davis to the level of the top three highest ranking bike-friendly cities by the League of American Bicyclists, she said.
On the economic end, Asmundson named the opening of Target and the soon-to-come Trader Joe’s as major accomplishments.
Mayor Asmundson has been a reliable vote with the Council Majority pushing a pro-growth agenda. She has had a mixed record on fiscal issues. Previously she had opposed the battalion chief model for the Davis fire department, however, in November of this year, she reversed that position and cast the deciding vote in favor of it.
She has also been the third vote on several 3-2 votes to approve the MOU’s with the Firefighters union, the Management Team, and PASEA (which was a 4-1 vote with Councilmember Greenwald joining the council majority). Councilmembers Sue Greenwald and Lamar Heystek have argued that the bargaining contracts have missed an opportunity to rectify structural problems such as pensions, retiree health benefits, and a cafeteria cashout that currently pays out nearly $18,000 per year in cash to employees who have duel health coverage.
In her earlier terms, she was part of 4-1 votes, with Councilmember Greenwald dissenting, in support of Covell Village, Target, and the decision to shutdown the city’s Human Relations Commission. She also pushed hard for a biocontainment lab but after significant community resistance the city council ultimately rejected it.
By this time next year, this could be a very different looking council. Currently Councilmember Don Saylor is unopposed in his bid for the County Board of Supervisors. If that remains the case and he is elected, he would step down from the Council some time in December. That would leave an additional vacancy and given the costs of having a special election, it would set the council up to possibly appoint an additional member. Thus by January 2011, only Councilmembers Stephen Souza and Sue Greenwald would remain from this council and a vastly different council would be in place.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Now here is something new for Davis politics. Rochelle Harry Swanson. On her LinkedIn page, she supports McCain-Palin.
Goodbye Ruth, I for one won’t miss you.
Greg Kuperberg: I think you mean supported McCain-Palin, or is she like those people I see driving around with expired campaign bumper stickers worn like badges of honor. Thank goodness people discard the lawn signs after an election. Alas, it takes a whole lot more courage to paste your bumper sticker to your car compared to taping it to the rear window.
Feel free to delete this posting….
Oh my goodness, and Ms. Swanson has represented wireless communications companies!
Allright! Finally a local candidate with some common sense! I believe her husband owns the venerable Davis Graduate. Purveyor of red meat and alcohol! I’ll be signing on to any of their support efforts.
However, the McCain-Palin entry is gone as of this morning. I definitely saw it though.
I wonder whether Davis politics is becoming a coalition of “progressives” and Republicans against centrist Democrats. It already started to look that way before the news about Rochelle Swanson.
she supports McCain-Palin
her husband owns the venerable Davis Graduate
Finally, a reasonable candidate that has inspired my interest.
However, the McCain-Palin entry is gone as of this morning. I definitely saw it though.
Then maybe she reads the Vanguard postings & comments! That may be a good sign, ironically.
No, it’s still there on her Linked In page. But I don’t know how much I care about her presidential preferences. Nor do I necessarily believe that business-ownership translates into political effectiveness. Somebody should start compiling online interview questions for the candidates about local issues.
[i]Somebody should start compiling online interview questions for the candidates about local issues.[/i]
“As a Republican, do you think that unions are bleeding the city budget dry?”
My questions would be:
“Are you for or against develpement on the periphery of Davis, straight up yes or no answer, no hedging allowed?”
“What do you plan to do about the “bumbs” in downtown Davis?”
What are your ideas for increasing revenue for city?
What will be your approach to next round of labor MUOs?
How would you improve our affordable housing program?
[quote]Greg Kuperberg: I think you mean supported McCain-Palin, or is she like those people I see driving around with expired campaign bumper stickers worn like badges of honor. Thank goodness people discard the lawn signs after an election. Alas, it takes a whole lot more courage to paste your bumper sticker to your car compared to taping it to the rear window. [/quote]
You can drive down San Rafael to see a Sidney Vergis lawn sign
[quote]What are your ideas for increasing revenue for city? [/quote]
The best question ever! This is exactly what we need to ask of our current council!
Do you support prop-13 as is?
How do you propose we balance the budget?
Do you want Davis to have more, the same or fewer large stores?