Daily News Endorsements

The endorsements are finally out from the Daily News:

VOTE FOR BAYLOCK, ROOT, KEIGHRAN, COHEN FOR COUNCIL

Burlingame is on the brink of what could be a major change in the City council, with three four-year seats and one two-year seat open this fall. With the current focus on questions of how to develop and redevelop, the city itself also could be transformed by the new council. Of the seven people fighting for the three full terms, we recommend incumbent Cathy Baylock and newcomers John Root and Anne Keighran. For the two-year seat being sought by two candidates, Russ Cohen gets our nod.

Tough start

Baylock, a former bank manager and mother, in her first term at times struggled to get her views heard on the council and sat at the losing end of some 4-1 votes. She appears to be gaining ground and support, however, with time, experience and the departure of some old-guard council members like Joe Galligan and Mike Coffey. We like her business focus, her moderation, her interest in helping small businesses through means such as adoption of the Mills Act, which provides incentives for fixing up historic buildings, and her respect for the mommy machine?, the parents and families of the community who fought hard for school crossing guard funding.

You can't argue with the depth of John Root's experience. The retired manager of the SM County Expo Center, he has been elected to the Burlingame School District and San Mateo Board of Education and has served with community groups including the Burlingame Library Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce. Obviously influenced by his time on SM Citizen's Advisory Committee developing an ambitious rail corridor plan, he is calling for Burlingame to get serious about planning and creating a city vision in the face of a push to recreate the Safeway site and the expected introduction of grade separations.

Effective

Anne Keighran, with a background in nursing, led the Planning Commission during the fight over the last proposed Safeway redevelopment project and handled both the developer and the public firmly and effectively, showing a clear grasp of detail and policy. She has worked to change zoning on Broadway in an effort to bring in new businesses, called for the city to expand its focus beyond the immediate downtown and spoken for the preservation of school crossing guard funding. We think she will be a strong addition to the council.

We respect the long service of incumbent Rosalie O'Mahony, a seasoned political operative and retired math teacher, but after more than 15 years in office we would prefer to bring in another new face with a fresh set of ideas and clearly stated views. Often a swing vote, O'Mahony has a history of a aligning herself with whoever appears to be on the winning side, sometimes reversing herself if it seems expedient, as in the recent decision on crossing guard funding.

Dan Andersen is also a strong candidate with a history of community activism on the Safeway project and in the Peninsula Hospital Guardians, a watchdog group monitoring the reconstruction of Burlingame's hospital, but faced with a hard choice among talented newcomers, we favored Root and Keighran. Paul Prendiville, a contractor, has a lot of ideas but does not seem to have a solid base of support.

Russ Cohen, an advertising executive, is our choice for the two-year seat. He has a solid record of community involvement including work in the Citizens for a Better Burlingame on the Safeway project, appointment to the Traffic Parking and Safety Committee, work on the Lions Club and the presidency and revitalization of the Burlingame Historical Society. He has a strong constituency, coming close to winning a seat in the last election, and takes a somewhat more cautious approach to development than some of his fellow candidates. Don Lembi, a former City Council member also running for the two-year seat, also has a strong record of service including stints on the Burlingame School District board and the Recreation Commission, but has not been active in city politics recently and has not run a strong campaign this year.

And no, I did not leave out anything about Condon. He was not mentioned anywhere in the article.

- Written by Fiona

Comments

[Ricardo Ortiz]

I can only find the followiing:

SM County times:
O'Mahony, Keighran, Andersen and Cohen

The Daily Journal:
O'Mahoney, Baylock, Andersen and Cohen

SM Daily News:
Keighran, Root, Baylock and Cohen

Are there any other newspaper endorsements?

Note that the Burlingame Daily News does not have an online version (the only local paper that doesn't!). Fiona has posted the full text of their endorsement (above) that appeared in the October 26, 2005 edition pages 12 14.

[Joanne]

Yes, Ricardo, I believe that is "it": So the tally (in alphabetical order) is:
2 newspapers for Andersen
2 newspapers for Baylock
2 newspapers for Keighran
2 newspapers for O'Mahony
1 newspaper for Root
and Cohen bats .1000 with all 3 newspapers endorsing him.
(and Prendiville and Condon getting no endorsements)
It's going to be an interesting evening on Nov 8!

[Joanne]

Oops...sorry, I left out Lembi with no endorsements, either.

Do we know if the Examiner newspaper is making endorsements? Candidates out there, have they interviewed you or sent you a questionnaire?

They sent a questionaire. No word on if and when they will endorse.

[Matilda]

Newspaper endorsements mean nothing to me, I don't understand why they would to anyone else either. What makes them the experts?

They are just another very small tool and I don't give them much credence even when they are right! As an example, I still cannot understand how the Daily Journal chose one of its endorsements after that candidate's very obvious confusion at the Daily Journal/CBB debate.

[Joanne]

Newspapers, like everybody else, like to predict the winners. The fact that there is no consistency here (other than the Cohen endorsement) may foreshadow a very close race. I wonder which newspaper is closer to the pulse? Seems to me that the people of Burlingame could be sketched out on a Venn Diagram -- difference circles, some of which overlap, some not. Which circle will be bigger? The "public school crowd" or the "OLA Crowd" or ????

[Ricardo Ortiz]

It would be fun to see how they did in past elections. I wonder if any of them called it right.

[Jen]

Past elections were much easier, with perhaps 4 player for 3 seats, etc. This is a tougher race to call.

[Seamus]

Joanne-it shouldn't be OLA vs public school-aren't we working on
uniting the community not dividing it?

The circles should be divided as follows:

character vs. yobism
knowledge vs. spin
experience vs. election speak
do the right thing vs. spin
truth vs. dishonesty
honesty vs. election speak
MM group think vs. weathervane
old school vs. new school
honesty vs. spin
confusion vs. clear thinking
hairs on the back of my neck rising vs. believing
good vs. bad

Thats how the circles work for me and the debate tonight delineated those circles perfectly!

[Joanne]

Seamus,
I didn't use the term "versus" -- you did. I'm just stating a reality...that the candidates seem to have different groups in town backing them...I mentioned the public school crowd and the OLA crowd, but I could have also mentioned the Trousdale-utility line crowd, etc....When I look at some of the endorsements I know every single name, when I look at other endorsements lists, I don't know anyone. With a name like Seamus, I suspect you are part of the crowd I don't know as well(I don't go to OLA and I'm not Irish). We all live in our own little circles, and maybe we are working towards a day when more of these circles will overlap, but not all of them do today. The candidates who win on Nov 8 are probably going to be the ones who most effectively touched all the circles.

[Joanne]

There is also the circle of the "parents of boys" as distinguished from the "parents of girls" -- which can be further divided into the boys who play a) soccer, b) baseball c)basketball, d) Lacrosse .... There is a circle for the Lions Club, there is a circle for the Rotary Club....Some of these groups vote as a block more than others.

There is also the "circle" of residents who have said they will vote for a candidate because "they or their husband went to high school with him". An astounding reason to vote!

[Matilda]

Hopefully there is a large "circle" of residents who would vote for a balanced council, with members with diverse views, who listen to all of their colleagues and constituents, not just the loudest or those in agreement. A member who puts the community above his/her own needs. A member who realizes that the majority of Burlingame residents simply want a new Safeway, any Safeway, and don't have the time or inclination to get involved with the politics of this town, but are hoping the elected council will just see that it happens calmly and with dignity.

[fred]

Circles - well they want one circle to run the council entirely. I guess it is easy for them to divide up the community because they are busy on the campaign trail.

[al]

The circle that wants "any" new Safeway is tiny which is good because its members are terribly nearsighted.

[fred]

So wrong Fiona, so wrong.

Fred, you know I love you but I am getting tired of all your crapola about aliases (see your fake email above). Just for your information, I am not Fred (with a capital eff) or anyone else other than Fiona and sometimes when I want to go to my "softer metrosexual" personae, I am Jim! Some of us do not need 30 aliases to blog! I enjoy your blogs even when you hide behind fred with a small eff or fred with a big eff or any other 30 aliases du jour!

But importantly, Fred, what do you think about the Opinion piece in the Daily News today titled "Proposition 13 hurts young home buyers". It is a fascinating article.

[fred]

Puhleez.

[Matilda]

Al or Fiona, or whomever you are...
You have no idea. Open your mind, take your blinders off, start asking people you've never talked to before; people you don't know, people who don't belong to any "group," people outside your same-old circle, and if you don't bully them, you might get the truth!

Mathilda, what is the truth? Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Fake Fred]

What are you talking about, Matilda? What truth? Whatever point of view you believe in? Or are you saying that there is another circle made up of "anti-other-circle" people that you belong to? Why should Al and Fiona wake up to that? I don't get the point of your posts.