“I’m on Cloud 9,” says Lewis, whose water board term runs through December 2013. “I expected to win, but I did not expect a landslide.” Photo by Nic Coury.
Water Board Tilts Left
Lewis’s victory sends deep ripples through local water politics.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Three pizzas, six orders of wings and potatoes, four cinnamon poppers: Brenda Lewis, the newest member of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District board, gauges her election-night crowd by the quantity of food consumed. About 40 people, she concludes.
The May 3 party at Me-N-Ed’s Pizzeria is as powerful as it is hungry. Among Lewis’ supporters: Campaign manager George Riley of Citizens for Public Water; attorneys Michael Stamp and Molly Erickson, who are litigating against the county over the regional desal project; eco-activist Kay Cline of Sustainable Seaside; water board member Kristi Markey, chief of staff to Supervisor Jane Parker; and Helen Rucker of Citizens for Transparency in Government, who helped oust 16-year Seaside City Council veteran Tom Mancini last November.
Mancini was replaced by Alvin Edwards, who then vacated his water board seat – which Mancini and Lewis competed to fill.
That so many have rallied behind Lewis, a relative unknown, reflects the tie-breaking power of the Division 1 seat. Three of the seven seated board members lean toward slow-growth politics, the other three toward business interests.
While Mancini’s campaign had about $13,600 in contributions – mostly from construction unions, real estate and hospitality groups – Lewis had $3,100 from six supporters, with $1,000 from Citizens for Transparency.
About a quarter of the 7,790 eligible voters, mostly in Seaside, returned their mail-only ballots by the May 3 deadline. The semi-final tally: 65 to 35 percent.
“We’re gonna see what the recount looks like,” Mancini says, referring to the Election Department’s standard procedure of manually recounting one precinct. “That’s about all I can say.”
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