Big lead for Slocum in supervisor race
Ervin, Nihart win in Pacifica council race
SAN MATEO — Former county elections chief Warren Slocum emerged as the winner Tuesday in the 4th District race for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
Slocum held an insurmountable advantage over opponent Shelly Masur with most-precincts reporting. Slocum, who served as the county’s top elections offi cial and assessor-clerk-recorder for 24 years before retiring last year, touted his experience in the campaign against Masur, vice president of the Redwood City School District board of trustees.
“I’m feeling pretty good about the results,” Slocum said after early results came in. “My sense is voters viewed my contributions positively and it wasn’t just name recognition.”
Five cities in San Mateo County featured competitive council races, including Pacifica, where seven candidates were vying for three seats.
Karen Ervin, a former trustee with the Pacifica School District, and Councilwoman Mary Ann Nihart were victorious in a three- person race for two of the council seats. Mike O’Neill, vice president of the Pacifica School District board, appeared to have won a separate four- person contest to fill the seat of Jim Vreeland, who resigned from the council earlier this year due to illness.
In Half Moon Bay, council incumbents “Farmer John” Muller and Marina Fraser were in first and second place, respectively, in a contest for two seats. Muller secured a victory, while Fraser appeared to have built an enduring lead over challengers Harvey Rarback and John Ullom.
There were two seats up for grabs in Atherton. Vice Mayor Elizabeth Lewis took first place by a wide margin in her bid for a second term. Investment consultant Cary Wiest was poised to take second place, ahead of Greg Conlon and Denise Kupperman.
Eight people were competing for only three spots on the East Palo Alto City Council. Mayor Laura Martinez was in the lead, followed by former Ravenswood City School District trustee Larry Moody and Councilman Peter Evans in a tight race.
An incumbent was in trouble in Menlo Park, where five candidates were competing for two seats. Raymond Mueller, a city transportation commissioner, had the lead, followed by Catherine Carlton, a city parks and recreation commissioner. Incumbent Kelly Fergusson was nipping at their heels in third, followed by challengers David Bragg and Carolyn Clarke.
Councilmen David Canepa and Sal Torres took first and second place, respectively, in Daly City, holding off two challengers.
Election night brought mixed results for three countywide ballot measures.
Measure A, which would impose a half- cent sales tax to bolster the county’s budget, got enough votes to pass. Measure B, a proposal for supervisors to be elected just by voters in their district, also passed. But voters rejected Measure C, which would make the job of controller an appointed, not elected, position.. Contact Aaron Kinney at 650348- 4357. Follow him at Twitter.com/ kinney times.