From Volume 3, Number 1 Published March 31, 2002
Burlingame residents got the results from the November 6th City Council election the following day, but they didn't get the whole story until final financial statements were filed by
candidates on January 31st of this year. The 2001 local election was one of the most expensive in the County. The five candidates together spent more than $75,000.
Burlingame also had the highest turnout in the County-42 percent-about 20 percent more than the average County turnout
Win, Place and Show
Running for her fourth term, Rosalie O'Mahony, led the pack in both votes and expenditures. She clearly took nothing for granted in the election even with widespread support. The proportion of her contributions coming from local residents was the second highest. Out-of-town contributions were from a mixture of labor, real estate, lawyers and Assemblyman Lou Papan's war chest.
Cathy Baylock's second place finish took the least amount of money of all winners. She had substantial monetary and non-monetary support from local residents. An impressive 96 percent of contributions came from locals looking to put a grassroots, neighborhood advocate in office. When out-of-town family members' contributions are subtracted, her local donation percentage soars to 99.6 percent.
The winner with the least number of votes, Joe Galligan, had the second highest expenditures and a substantial percentage of money from out-of-town sources in real estate, construction, labor, PACs and Lou Papan. Even though Galligan was an incumbent and the sitting mayor on Election Day he lost more than four percentage points compared to 1997 when he ran as an unknown.
Clearly the controversies over conflicts of interest, replacing Planning Commissioners, and his misuse of AYSO and church membership lists took their toll on his support.
Many residents were outraged on September 7th when Mr. Galligan was quoted in the Burlingame Daily News saying "More politics is done here (the American Bull Bar and Grill) than in City Hall." After two years of accusations and Grand Jury hearings about private meetings, it was bad strategy to highlight backroom meetings. The Bar and Grill's owner did not help his cause when her letter to the editor was published confirming that Janney, Coffey and Galligan do in fact meet regularly at her establishment.
Finishing Out of the Money
During the campaign, fourth place finisher, Ralph Osterling struggled to find a message and an organization. Often the press sought an explanation or a position on an issue and Osterling was "unavailable for comment". He announced his candidacy 15 months before the election, then attributed his defeat to getting a late start. His local fund raising percentage was the lowest in the race at 68%.
23 year old, fifth-place finisher, Patrick Jensen, was bursting with ideas about how to improve Burlingame and was not afraid to tell everybody about them. For the money spent, his vote total was the most efficient among all candidates. He won six precincts outright.
Dead Last
Last place for election spin goes to Jerry Fuchs of The Independent. Fuchs is the leading practitioner of "personality politics" in the County. But his post-election editorial urged the City Council "to focus on issues, not personalities". Perhaps Mr. Fuchs should practice what he preaches.
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