Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations on a great effort and a job well done! This election cycle has been the most active in the history of the Local. I want to thank all of you who came through for the Santa Clara Firefighters when we needed you. Your commitment to walk precincts and staff phone banks had a huge impact on this election, not only on the final results but on every candidate who ran for office. Believe me when I tell you that anyone who runs for office in Santa Clara City government wants the support and endorsement of the firefighters. So again, well done!

Now the results. While we didn't win every seat we did very well, winning four out of five of the elected offices we endorsed, and helping to win Measure J which we also supported with our endorsement and a financial contribution.

Measure J - This measure will continue to ensure the safety of Santa Clara's school children by making sure all the classrooms are safe from earthquakes, and providing for additional, needed building maintenance. It passed by taking 72% of the votes cast.

City Clerk - Our good friend and outgoing Councilman Rod Diridon won it hands down, garnering 48.40% or 8,246 votes.

City Council Seat 3 - The Kennedy/Hardy race was the rollercoaster race of the entire election, with our candidate, Will Kennedy coming out the winner! In the end Will won by 56 votes out of total of 28,935 total votes cast! I attribute that directly to the precincts walked by the firefighters. This is simply an object lesson that proves the truism that every single vote, and every single voter matters.

City Council Seat 4 - Our good friend Kevin Moore won over Gap Kim by a healthy margin. This race was never in jeopardy for Kevin. Kevin Moore will be one of our strongest supporters on the council, and he isn't afraid to say so to anyone. He's the hardest working "political animal" I know, and a good man to have on our side.

City Council Seat 6 - Another good friend simply walked away with it from the start. Sister Terri Kolstad's husband Pat Kolstad tallied over 79% of the vote to retain his seat. Pat was our most ardent supporter of binding interest arbitration and wasn't afraid to stand up and say so in front of the Council, management and the voters. He has always been open to meeting with us and listening to our concerns. He also serves as a Board member of the Santa Clara Firefighters Foundation. We look forward to working with Pat during his next term of office.

City Council Seat 7 - Newcomer Jamie McLeod surprised many of us by easily beating the two home boys, Chuck Blair and Todd O'Donnell to win Seat 7. The buzz at election central last night unanimously credited McLeod with running a smart campaign infused with a lot of hard work on her part. It also didn't hurt that she was first on the ballot, and that her name sounds a lot like current incumbent, Jamie Matthews. But be that as it may it takes nothing away from her well run, well staffed and intelligently crafted, winning campaign. We look forward to building a good working relationship with Jamie McLeod.

In Summary - We entered into these races with the potential to lose big because we were losing two friends due to term limits (Diridon and McLemore), and a third (Kolstad) was up for re-election. We emerged I think, better off than we were before. We retained Kolstad, and helped elect Moore, two friends. While Jamie McLeod has yet to prove herself, she definitely has the potential to become a good friend. She's a good democrat and supporter of working families. In recent discussions with her she has said that she supports binding interest arbitration for public safety. Will Kennedy won a squeaker and it was in large part due to the efforts of the firefighters who gave him his margin of victory.

One of the biggest pluses of this campaign is that we have strengthened our relationship with all the incumbents on the council who weren't running this cycle: i.e. Mayor Pat Mahan; Councilman Jamie Matthews; and Councilman Dominic Caserta (already a good friend). Those three essentially endorsed the same candidates we endorsed. Working together on the same team has helped build a spirit of cooperation and unity between the firefighters and incumbents. This relationship makes it easier for us to share our concerns with them on the issues that count for us. And while we are not going to agree on every issue, we have created an avenue to meet and discuss our issues on friendly terms.

Jeremy and I spent the majority of our time on election night at Charlie Blair's restaurant where Kennedy, Blair and Moore awaited the results of the voting. Also there were many of Santa Clara's politically active residents including the Kolstad's, the Diridon' s (Rod Jr. and Rod Sr.) Mayor Mahan, and Councilmen Matthews and Caserta there.

We've worked hard at building relationships with every candidate, even those candidates we did not support. We met with Jamie McLeod and Gap Kim at their homes on election night in order to congratulate them for mounting good campaigns and thank them for running. We were unable to meet in person with Karen Hardy on election night, but have subsequently had the opportunity to talk with her. We told the candidates that regardless of outcome or endorsement, we look forward to working with them in the future. We want to ensure that any candidate we did not endorse knows that we want to work with them. Even though Gap did not win in this cycle, he is a very viable future council candidate and he is a committed friend to the firefighters and to working families.

Thank You's - There are a lot of people who make the firefighters successful politically. I hope to assemble and publish the name's of everyone who walked and talked for our endorsed candidates. But until then let me especially thank Dave Rose and Jeremy Ray who worked so hard to facilitate our success. Without them, we would not have the level of respect in the political community we enjoy. Thanks also to our Precinct Captains (Brothers Moses, Perez and Miller) and their Lieutenants who so tirelessly made phone call after phone call to get us out there and working for our endorsed candidates.

Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make a difference,
gary

Gary Niblock, President 

12/25/2004