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Flash: Hard Fought Berkeley Races End in Victory for Incumbents, Measure J Defeated

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday November 07, 2006

More than half a million dollars later, campaign weary incumbent mayoral and council candidates Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmembers Gordon Wozniak, Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring and Linda Maio will retake their familiar seats on the council dais. 

With the exception of a tight District 7 race in which the business community’s candidate George Beier outspent Worthington by more than three times, the incumbents won their races in landslide victories.  

Absentee ballots received by the Alameda County Registrar by mail Tuesday and absentee ballots hand-delivered to polling places Tuesday, as well as provisional ballots—those where the integrity must be verified—will not be counted until the end of the week, according to Guy Ashley spokesperson for the Alameda County Registrar’s Office.  

Mayor Tom Bates outdid former Planning Commission Chair Zelda Bronstein 63-to-31 percent. Zachary Running Wolf picked up about 5 percent of the vote and Christian Pecaut took 1 percent.  

Popular District 4 Councilmember Dona Spring won her district with 70 percent of the vote, knocking bank manager Raudel Wilson, with 28.43 percent, out of the race; District 8 incumbent Councilmember Gordon Wozniak beat student Jason Overman 64-to-36 percent; and incumbent Councilmember Linda Maio won District 1 with 76 percent of the vote, over Merrilie Mitchell’s 23 percent. 

In Dristrict 7, Worthington was hanging on by a slim lead of 131 votes over Beier, who garnered 47.7 percent of the vote, with only provisional and election day absentee ballots still left to count. 

 

Measures 

Measure J, the landmarks preservation ballot initiative opposed by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce PAC, lost with 57 percent opposing it and 43 percent in support. 

Measure I, which would have gutted tenant protections when rental units were converted to condominiums, lost 73-to-27 percent. 

On the other hand, Measure H, an advisory measure to impeach the president and vice president won 69-to-31 percent. 

The measure grabbing more votes than any other citywide race—23,083—was Measure G, aimed at reducing Berkeley’s greenhouse gases. It won with 81-to-19 percent of the vote.