November 4, 2004


Third time may be the charm for Pyle on her quest for City Hall

De La Rosa will not concede election until every vote is counted

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

On Tuesday morning, city council candidate Nancy Pyle’s personal friend Diane Perovich cast a ballot for Pyle and silently prayed she would prevail.

Early Wednesday morning, the dedicated campaign worker was elated when the 66-year-old Pyle was leading by more than 100 votes after a nail-biting, flip-flopping result election that gave primary election front-running candidate Rich De La Rosa a bad case of the nerves.

Throughout the evening, after the polls closed, De La Rosa and Pyle smiled and frowned on the hour as results showed them leading and lagging behind by a small margin of votes.

District 10 City Council candidate Rich De La Rosa thanks his family for their support Tuesday evening. From left, daughter Amber De La Rosa Perkins, wife Misty, daughter Nikki, 4-year-old adopted son Danny, daughter Alicia and son Rich Jr. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

As precincts were counted the candidates seemed to be caught in a sick and cruel political game of wait and see until the early hours of the morning. The results were so narrow neither candidate claimed victory.

In the end, it was Pyle, who came from behind fighting hard to lead in the District 10 race receiving 11,828 votes or 50.2 percent compared to 11,722 votes, or 49.75 percent of votes cast for De La Rosa, 52. Pyle edged out De La Rosa by a 187 votes with all 63 precincts reporting and some absentee ballots counted.

If Pyle is declared the winner, she will occupy the seat being vacated by termed-out Vice Mayor Pat Dando who supported De La Rosa.

“I’m ecstatically happy about her win and I’m very proud of her,” Perovich said. “It’s been a long hard fight. I wanted the third time to be the charm. She’s the better candidate.”

A tight race
Nathan Hanning, De La Rosa’s campaign manager, said Wednesday afternoon the race was too close to call. He said there are more than 150,000 ballots countywide that have not been counted and that it could take the full 28 days to certify the election to have the final tally by the Nov. 30 deadline. “We want all votes counted. We want all absentee and provisional ballots accounted for,” Hanning said.

Pyle’s lead was especially sweet for the former educator who tried twice to beat Pat Dando, in 1995 and 1999, but failed. She was elected to the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District Board of Trustees in 1996.

During the primary election, De La Rosa won by a 12 percentage-point lead over Pyle. De La Rosa finished with nearly 49 percent of the vote, narrowly missing the majority needed for a win. Pyle received 36 percent of the vote.

The seat represents Almaden Valley, Santa Teresa, and Blossom Valley. The winner will serve a four-year-term beginning Jan. 1, 2005 through Dec. 31, 2008 and make $75,000 annually serving full-time to represent about 90,000 residents who live in District 10.

Perovich jumped on the Pyle campaign bandwagon after fighting to retain the name of the Almaden Branch Library. Perovich began volunteering more than 40 hours a week after Labor Day to help Pyle convince district voters that she was the better choice. She manned a phone bank, did door-to-door precinct walking and raised funds for Pyle.

“I’m amazed by the voter turnout,” Perovich said during a lively election party at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union headquarters in San Jose where many Democratic candidates had converged to watch election results and eat a Mexican-style dinner.

“The issues and the candidates got voters registered and interested in the electoral process,” Perovich added. “I wanted Nancy to stand on her virtues and be the stronger candidate.”
Pyle’s plans

Hot issues during the campaign centered around traffic, education, the lagging economic recession with its accompanying unemployment, sports fields for children and most recently personal attacks from the candidates, with Pyle sending out campaign literature at the last minute, which the Mercury News called “downright lies.”

If Pyle is declared the winner, her victory would bring an end to a traditionally Republican-controlled seat making now the City Council a 10-member Democratic body, which critics say is heavily influenced by labor.

In a victory statement, Pyle said it was her campaign’s dogged tenacity, hard work and outreach to the community that won the seat. “The race came down to the person with the most experience in the community. I’m delighted and looking forward to working for the community.”

Pyle said she would immediately unite the district creating a Web site where a model form of government could be appreciated and where people of different ethnicities could read news about their community in their own languages.

She also said she will gather as many employed and unemployed people together in the district to discuss ways to work out their job problems. She said she would organize a team of experts to study the lack of sports facilities for children. She would also like to invite the public to meet with her on a round table forum to discuss the issues most concerning to them so that she has her priorities are in order if she’s declared the winner.

Asked about her farfetched accusations against De La Rosa trying to link him to the Tropicana Shopping Center’s lawsuits as he fought the city against a hostile takeover through the use of eminent domain, Pyle said: “I will never divulge sources. I will never put them in an unprotected position. I can’t provide the sources to back my last claims against Rich De La Rosa, but they were valid.”

Pyle’s fans
Jon Persson, Pyle’s deputy campaign manager, was also blissful as he volunteered hundreds of hours to help Pyle, way before the March primary election.

He said he became a Pyle fan after listening to her speak during a VEP Community Association forum. “I always sided more with the things that Nancy said. My parents are teachers and Nancy spent most of her career as an educator in our district and that’s something that really struck with me,” he said.

“This win means so much to many community members who worked many long hours. We were led by Nancy and her energy. We had a great field campaign. Our volunteers called many voters and told them about Nancy,” he added.

District 6 San Jose City Councilman Ken Yeager, one of eight council members supporting Pyle, said the longtime Almaden resident worked harder than any candidate he’s ever met.

“She did everything right. She spoke with all the voters. She ran a very smart campaign and I was optimistic she would win,” he said.

Yeager said Pyle’s last-minute hit pieces trying to discredit De La Rosa were unfortunate, but said they were a result of negative campaigning started by De La Rosa.

Asked about concerns that the council will now be pro-labor, Yeager said his fellow council members try to look at issues objectively. “We all vote on the merits of the issues. I don’t agree that we’re influenced that way,” he said.
Mohinder Mann, an Almaden Valley Hindu-American attorney, said he worked to get Pyle extra votes by registering as many as 600 Hindu-Americans who supported her.

Pyle’s campaign manager, Ana Maria Rosato, expressed gratitude to the many San Jose City Council members who walked precincts for Pyle.

“Our candidate had incredible integrity. We ran a clean campaign and they were simply talking to the mirror when they were talking about us,” Rosato said about the negative campaigning that preceded Election Day.

Not ready to concede
Without conceding the election, De La Rosa said he wanted every vote counted before a conclusion could be reached. “We fought as hard as we could and ran a good race,” he said.

During an election party at Almaden Valley’s Amato’s restaurant, De La Rosa gave awards to his campaign volunteers. “I appreciate their support. It’s been a long campaign, about a year and a half. I couldn’t have run this campaign by myself.”

De La Rosa also thanked his family for their support and expressed gratitude for business partner Jim Duran for taking over his insurance business while campaigning.

Many San Jose business leaders were in attendance, including Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce President Jim Cuneen, Vice Mayor Pat Dando, Dennis King, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Mark Skeen, executive vice president of the San Jose Fire Fighters Local 230, campaign volunteer Mike Nicholls, dubbed the “sign king,” and other De La Rosa loyalists.

The Almaden insurance agent recalled how his campaign started at a luncheon a year and a half ago with Dando encouraging him to run for office after he expressed a desire in politics. “I made the mistake of telling her. From that point on it was a real whirlwind and she was always behind me and we went forward knowing that it was going to be hard, especially for someone who had never been in politics before,” he said. “I felt I was up to the challenge.”

About the race, an emotional De La Rosa said: “It’s been such a wonderful experience. I’ve met so many wonderful people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. We’ve had wonderful experiences. Win or lose, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It was amazing for me.”

Dando said De La Rosa was supported by a cross section of the city and District 10.

“Clearly we had the best candidate,” she said. “Regardless of what happens I want to thank those who supported Rich. He’s the person that should be leading District 10.”

District races
In other election news, GOB Assemblyman Abel Maldonado beat Democrat Peg Pinard in the battle for Senate District 15 receiving 139,756 votes or 53 percent compared to Pinard’s 114,347 votes or 43 percent. A third candidate in the race, Brook Madsen, obtained 11,680 votes or 4 percent.

Redwood City Councilman Ira Ruskin beat Los Gatos tech entrepreneur and multimillionaire Steve Poizner in the fight for Assembly District 21. Poizner poured more than $5.8 million into his campaign, making it one of the most expensive Assembly races in state history. Democratic Ruskin received 75,202 votes or 52 percent compared to Republican Poizner’s 69,675 votes or 48 percent.

Democrat Mike Honda was declared the winner of California’s 15th Congressional seat beating Republican contender Raymond L. Chukwu. Honda received 10,120 votes or 78 percent compared to 43,632 votes for Chukwu or 28 percent.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Enrique Colin, a Republican, lost his judgeship to Santa Clara District Attorney Griffin Bonini, a Democrat, who received 198,842 votes or 60 percent compared to Colin’s 132,325 votes or 40 percent for judicial office 7.

Ballot measures
Santa Clara County measures G (San Jose-Evergreen Community College bond measure), H (West Valley-Mission Community College District bond, M (Campbell Union High School District parcel tax) and S (San Jose libraries parcel tax) were also passed by voters, while A (“prevailing wage” amendment), B (third party labor conflict arbitration approval) and C (county/union arbitration) failed.

And statewide propositions 1A (protections for local governments), 59 (open government constitutional amendment), 60 (partisan primaries), 60A (sale of state surplus property) and 61 (bonds for children’s hospitals), 63 (tax for mental health funding), 64 (limit lawsuits for unfair business practices), 69 (DNA collection from criminal suspects) and 72 (health care mandate for business) passed. The state’s ambitious $3 billion bond measure, Proposition 71, to fund stem cell research was also approved by the state’s voters.

The rest, Props 62 (nonpartisan primaries), 65 (local government funding), 66 (modifications to “three strikes” law), 67 (tax on telephone use for emergency services), 68 (casinos at card clubs and race tracks) and 70 (expansion of gambling on tribal lands) failed.