Working on Friday's Citizen....

I am editing and finishing up work on the Citizen's election spectacular, which will be published on Friday. Election results will be posted asap on Wednesday (i.e. today) on our Web site, egcitizen.com
I am not sure if I will tele-commute this morning for a bit; or I will sleep an hour or two and then go into the office to finalize the Friday edition. I have sent out e-mail messages to many city council candidates seeking more commentary and trying to set up interviews for follow-up coverage of the election.
I want to pass on a huge congratulations and thanks for the hard work to our staff at the Citizen. Cameron Macdonald, Gamaliel Ortiz, Keith Gebers, Linda Le Park, Keri Wood, Laura Bemis, and myself combined to do some really solid work as a team to give our readers a solid election results issue. We hope you enjoy.

JF

Bloggers covering the election this year: Kicked BUTT!!

There was a lot of scrutiny on this year's Elk Grove City Council election, well, aside from the Buzz.

One local blogger went wild with his election coverage and did some great work. That's DAG over at EGNNet.

I've never done that Waldo thing, but I'll let blog readers imitate him. You can find DAG's EGN blog somewhere to your left and down....keep going....there....

Anyway, Kudos to Dan....and as an FYI, that "three-peat" phrase actually belongs to Pat Riley.....duhhhhhhhh

JF

E.M. Phoned Home....

Elliot Mulberg, a long-time Elk Grove Community Services District board member (before it became the Cosumnes CSD), has come home.
Mulberg was the top vote getter in this year's Florin Resource Conservation District board of directors election, grabbing a stunning 26,434 votes to secure a seat on the board. Mulberg left the CCSD and worked for several years with the Monterey area LAFCO. He has extensive water experience and is also an air-quality expert.
Second place finisher - also winning a seat - was Chuck Dawson, who nabbed 16,042 votes....well ahead of third place finished David Benson. Davies Ononiwu lost another election, finishing fourth. Ononiwu finished last when he ran for Elk Grove City Council in 2006, contesting Rick Soares, Pat Hume, and Elease Walton for the District 2 seat.
Bob Gray, a prolific bicyclist who promised to deal with rate increases, finished fifth with more than 11 percent of the vote.

It's 4:48 a.m. and I am operating on little sleep....

But, that is election night in the newspaper world. We all understand what we're getting into when we enter this business, and one thing is late nights fueled by a lot of coffee.
My girlfriend just woke up...she has a big planning commission meeting today to go over Yolo County's new general plan.
Well, back to work......
JF

Sophia is back with big win over Maestas

Imcumbent Sophia Scherman, shown in this series of photos, coasted to her biggest victory ever, as she received more than 17 percent of the votes than second-place challenger Katherine Maestas.

In 2004, Scherman beat out Carol McElheny by slightly more than 6 percent of the vote. There were four other candidates in that race, including Buddy Friend, Phillip Stark, Gyan Kalwani, and Debra Kristof.
This year, Scherman battled Maestas as well as Robert Felts and Khanh "K.T." Tran for her District 5 seat.
All four candidates put a lot of effort into their campaigns and gave voters many opportunities to learn about their platforms and ideas. Some even got to hear Maestas sing Janis....

Jeff Forward
Citizen

Someone call Pat Riley.....it's Cooper in a three-peat

Jim Cooper, pictured above, didn't put too much effort into this year's bid for re-election, that's probably because every other time he's run for office he has smashed his opponents and run away with monumental victories.
It was no different in 2008, as Cooper parlayed his personality, police-career presence, and direct approach on the council into a successful bid for his third term in office.
Challenger LaWanna Montgomery was trying to take down Cooper for the second time; she lost in 2004 when Cooper nabbed more than 17,000 votes than Montgomery did. This time around, it was closer....because there were only two candidates in the race.
In 2008, Cooper received 20,432 votes. Montgomery received 14,689 votes.
For more on the City Council District 1 race, check out Friday's Elk Grove Citizen
Jeff Forward
Editor, the Citizen

Cosumnes CSD shocker - Rutter top-vote getter

Guy Rutter, the former Galt fire official who was endorsed by out-going Cosumnes CSD director Gerald Derr, easily won a seat on the district's board of directors, raking in a massive 14,232 votes in the election, outpacing popular local businessman and incumbent, Gil Albiani, by 160 votes.
Newcomer Michelle Orrock grabbed the third open Cosumnes CSD board seat, edging community stalwart Sandi Russell by 572 votes.
Long-time incumbent Doug McElroy, seeking his fifth term on the CCSD board, finished fifth ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Rod Brewer. McElroy and Brewer - along with Orrock - had been endorsed by the local firefighters union, but that didn't seem to help them Tuesday. McElroy had almost 13 percent of the vote while Brewer nabbed just more than 7 percent of the vote.
The new Cosumnes CSD board of directors will include Keith Grueneberg, Elaine Wright, Michelle Orrock, Gil Albiani, and Guy Rutter.
More news and stories about the Cosumnes CSD election will be published in Friday's Citizen
Jeff Forward
Editor

It's Official, Leary lost to Detrick....

Eight-year City Council Member Mike Leary, shown at left in an Elk Grove Citizen file photo, has been defeated by challenger Steve Detrick, right in suit, in a massive rout.
Detrick, a community activist who is involved in EGCAPP, won with more than 58 percent of the vote. Leary came in at 32 percent and the other candidate in District 3, Greg Higley, garnered slightly more than 9 percent of the vote.
Look for more coverage in the Friday issue of the Elk Grove Citizen

Campaign night coverage from the Citizen news team...

We are here at the Citizen campaign headquarters - a.k.a. our normal office - and getting all the information on today's mega-important election.

Our reporting staff will be out on the town, around Elk Grove, catching the action of the voting excitment. We'll have results as soon as possible as they come across the wire and stories first thing in the morning on egcitizen.com.

Jeff Forward
Editor