The Bay Chapter and the election

We win big in Albany, keep key incumbents in San Francisco and Berkeley, and oust Pombo; Fremont loss a big disappointment

The Bay Chapter had major victories in this year's elections, although tempered with some disappointments.

Protecting Albany's shoreline

Our single biggest local-government win was the election of Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile to the Albany City Council. Albany is a small city, but this year's election was expensive and fiercely contested because the city is faced with major decisions about protecting - or allowing massive development on - its shoreline.

The Sierra Club joined with Citizens for the Albany Shoreline and Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) to gather the signatures of over a quarter of the city's voters for a ballot measure to establish a shoreline-protection process. When a court ruling took the measure off the ballot over a technicality, it became vital to elect City Council candidates who would be committed to shoreline protection. The vision of a continuous series of parks along the east shore of the Bay, put forward for 20 years by CESP and the Sierra Club, was at stake.

Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile were both leaders in the initiative campaign, and they went on to win the two open seats on the Council. Pro-mall forces targeted Joanne, who found herself in a tight race, and the Club's help was essential. Bay Chapter staff and volunteers, including numerous Albany residents and many shoreline-lovers from other communities, played key roles in both the ballot-measure and the candidate campaigns. We have received much grateful appreciation for helping the people of Albany overcome the multi-million-dollar budget of the developer and the track.

The new Council has now chosen incumbent Robert Lieber, whom the Club endorsed two years ago when he was elected and who has also been a strong leader for protecting the shoreline, as mayor, and Marge as vice mayor. Robert, Marge, and Joanne give Club-endorsed candidates a strong majority on the five-member Albany Council as it heads into the shoreline-planning process. We look forward to working with the Council on completing the Albany portion of the East Shore State Park and developing park amenities.

The national stage - getting rid of Pombo

One of our biggest successes was the victory of Jerry McNerney over incumbent Rep. Richard Pombo in House District 11. Pombo has been an ardent anti-environmentalist, obsessively dedicated to a campaign to weaken the federal Endangered Species Act.

McNerney, a wind-energy engineer, plans to concentrate on strengthening U.S. capabilities in renewable energy. Also high among his priorities is fighting for cleaner air and water for his pollution-plagued home district.

The Bay Chapter, the nationwide Sierra Club, hundreds of Sierra Club volunteers, and the whole environmental community pitched in together for this race, both in the primary and in the general election. The Club's work, in conjunction with that of our colleagues at the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, the League of Conservation Voters, and Clean Water Action, was essential.

The best testimony to our effectiveness in this race came a few days before Election Day in Human Events: The National Conservative Weekly, which wrote: "One of the few real conservative heroes in the current Congress, Rep. Richard Pombo of California, is in danger of being defeated for re-election because of an all-out assault by left-wing environmental groups and the moneyed elite who support environmental zealotry."

As a result of the national successes of the Democrats in retaking the majority in the House of Representatives, another local endorsee, incumbent Nancy Pelosi, will become speaker of the House.

Defending our friends

Friends of the environment were under major attack in several cities. The Bay Chapter was able to respond, in some cases on little notice. Other elected friends of the environment stepped up to help in several cases where an environmental ally was under attack.

Supervisor Chris Daly survived a hard-fought challenge in San Francisco's District 6. Daly has been one of the key voices on the Board for environmental protection. We made his re-election a priority and worked hard to mobilize Sierra Club volunteers, who made key contributions to his victory. Daly's re-election is critical for continued protection of San Francisco Bay and the Tuolumne River and for promoting solar and renewable power in San Francisco.

In Berkeley we endorsed incumbent Mayor Tom Bates and incumbent Councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring, and Linda Maio. Kriss Worthington, especially, faced an expensive, difficult challenge - his opponent spent more than had ever been spent in a Berkeley Council race - but all these environmental leaders won re-election.

In the face of all this spending, the Sierra Club's endorsement, volunteers, and staff help were crucial in Kriss' narrow victory. We were able to mail a slate card to key areas in Berkeley to trumpet our endorsements. Others of our endorsed candidates, Assemblymember Loni Hancock and Mayor Tom Bates, as well as lead volunteers and other allies stepped up to help make the mailing possible.

Re-election of these staunch environmental leaders to the City Council preserves the Council's pro-environmental majority - a doubly important victory since many other Bay Area cities look to Berkeley as a benchmark for strong environmental policies.

In Pleasanton, we helped Mayor Jennifer Hosterman stave off strong opposition and achieve re-election in a very close race.

In Contra Costa County several important greenbelt-defenders were on the ballot. We helped incumbent Councilmember Michael Kee win a difficult re-election in Pittsburg. He will now continue to play a key role in preventing massive development of the city's hillsides. In Antioch we helped greenbelt-activist Reggie Moore win a Council seat after a previous unsuccessful attempt. In Concord one of our two endorsees, Michael Chavez, was elected to the Council. This is an especially important time for Concord because of the issues about the reuse of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, and Michael is committed to preserving a large portion of open space there.

In Orinda, while environmentalist incumbent Councilmember Amy Worth was re-elected, longtime environmental stalwart Laura Abrams was defeated. Here too, other allies such as Assemblymember Hancock and a labor-union ally stepped up to help us produce a slate card.

Some losses

Fremont's Measure K went down to a heavy defeat. The Sierra Club helped write and circulate this ballot measure to protect the wildlands at Patterson Ranch, and this was another of our priority campaigns. Over 100 volunteers turned out over two months to help us contact voters. Some of the opponents of the measure claimed that the city's ordinary planning process would allow for adequate protection for the lands, and we will now have to work hard to hold them to their word.

In Marin and Sonoma Counties, Measure R, the SMART Train, narrowly lost, polling about 65% in the combined two-county district; 2/3 was required to pass. SMART proponents have stated their intention to bring an improved measure back for another vote in 2008. Should that occur, the Marin Group looks forward to the opportunity for a fuller discussion of all aspects of the issue.

Castro Valley's Measure Q for parks and open-space almost won with 63%, but needed 2/3. We needed more help to get the word out. Around 30% of voters are always opposed to anything, and so the nay-sayers only needed to confuse 3 or 4% more.

Other successes

Another important electoral victory was the election of outspoken environmentalist Gayle McLaughlin as mayor of Richmond. That city faces many difficult land-use and environmental-justice issues, including revisions to its General Plan, threats to the shoreline (such as a continued attempt to build an Indian casino at Point Molate), and protection from the multiple sources of hazardous materials. Gayle's election installs a mayor who will focus on defending the environment. With positive campaigns, such as her championship of Solar Richmond, she may be able to fashion an environmental majority in Richmond for the first time in living memory. Moreover, her success was a major sea change in how Richmond voters have reacted to environmental issues. The Chapter's staff and volunteers worked hard on her campaign and were an essential ingredient in her win.

In Sausalito our endorsed candidates for the City Council split, with Jonathan Leone winning and Dennis Scremin losing.

Two Bay Chapter leaders won their first election to public office: Chapter chair John Rizzo won a seat on the San Francisco City College Board, and Northern Alameda County Group ExComm member (and former Group chair) Andy Katz takes a seat on the Board of the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Two other experienced leaders from other environmental organizations were elected to office in Marin: Jared Huffman to the state Assembly and David Behar to the Marin Municipal Water District Board.

Berkeley votes approved Measure F, to allow ballfields at Gilman Street. The idea of getting these ballfields built there came from the Sierra Club. It is a major win for recreation and will help ease the shortage of active sports fields in the East Bay.

How do we make a difference in so many races? The Chapter's strength is in helping to mobilize hundreds of Sierra Club volunteers and building community leadership. Further, by increasing community involvement we are able to increase the prominence of environmental issues.

State races

Ballot measures were the Club's main statewide focus, and results were mixed.

We won on our highest priority, defeating the takings initiative (Prop 90). If this had won, it would have threatened all local open-space and land-use protections

The parental notification initiative (Prop 85) that we opposed lost; but we lost on both the clean-energy (Prop 87) and clean-election (Prop 89) initiatives. Voters rebelled against long and complicated initiatives that had fierce opposition.

Bonds fared much better, as voters approved five infrastructure bonds, including three that we backed: water/parks/land conservation (Prop 84), affordable housing (with some excellent smart-growth/infill provisions - Prop 1C), and schools (with language for green school buildings - Prop 1D). We were neutral on the successful transportation and flood-control bonds.

The Governator won re-election by a landslide. He has a mixed environmental record, and refused to engage in our endorsement process, but we frequently work with his top appointees. For the down-ticket statewide offices, five of our six candidates won, all Democrats running for open seats. Jerry Brown returns to Sacramento as attorney general, with a promise to make the environment a priority.

Despite the term limits that will bring a record number of new legislators to the Capitol, not a single seat in the state legislature is changing parties. One significant win is the election of our endorsee Leland Yee, the first Chinese-American ever elected to the state Senate. He has been taking increasing leadership on environmental issues. Because of the primary results in the open seats, however, our Assembly will grow considerably greener than it has been, while the previously rock-solid Senate will get shakier.