The Cupertino Courier

News

Wang is re-elected; Wong edges out Santoro

By Crystal Lu

In a close race for the Cupertino City Council, Gilbert Wong appears to have narrowly defeated Mark Santoro, according to preliminary election results.

Mayor Kris Wang handily won re-election to a second term.

The final results of the Nov. 6 election will be made available as soon as possible, but by law the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office has until Nov. 26 to certify the election.

In the meantime, the nomination period to fill the vacancy created by former Vice Mayor Patrick Kwok's resignation has ended. That election will take place Feb. 5.

By the deadline Nov. 9, five candidates had filed for the special election--Wong; Santoro; Raj Abhyanker, a candidate in the Nov. 6 council election; Chihua Wei and T.N. Ho.

Hedging his bets, Wong submitted papers for the special election, from which he will withdraw if the final results of the November election send him to the city council.

Wong said he feels "humble and honored" about being an apparent winner.

"My experience, leadership and commitment made me a strong candidate," said Wong, a city planning commissioner.

Wong, who hosted a diverse crowd at his election night party, also said the November election showed Cupertino residents voted based on issues rather than the ethnicity of the candidates.

Another conclusion Wong has drawn from the election is that "negative campaigning didn't work.'' He and Santoro

were the targets of hit pieces mailed late in the campaign, but the two received the highest vote totals, behind Wang, in the six-candidate race for two seats on the council.

"I think the voters of Cupertino were turned off by negative campaigning," said Wong. "I hope anonymous negative campaigners will stop."

"It was unfair and illegal that they were hiding," said Santoro, who has filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission about the anonymous hit pieces.

According to Santoro, anyone who spends more than $1,000 publicizing opinions on an election candidate is required by law to notify the FPPC.

Santoro half-jokingly said that the hit pieces "may have helped" him because he wasn't a well-known candidate in the beginning of the race. He thinks the widely circulated hit pieces may have led people to his website to find out about him and then they liked what they saw.

Santoro said he hadn't made up his mind on whether to ask for a recount.