Saratoga News Wolfe, Allen win seats on WV district college board By Sarah Lombardo Don Wolfe took an early lead in his quest for a seat on the West Valley-Mission Community College District Board of Trustees, garnering 35 percent of the votes by 9 p.m. on election night. And the current Saratoga city mayor kept his lead. With 90 percent of the votes counted, Wolfe was shown winning one of two seats available in Trustee Area 1 with 31,991 votes, or 37.29 percent. Los Gatos resident Doug Allen took an early second with 28.5 percent by 9 p.m., but barely held the No. 2 spot. With 58 percent of the votes counted, Allen won the second district seat with 23,458 votes, or 27.3 percent--compared with Saratoga resident Jeff Schwartz, who followed close behind with 23,187 votes, or 27 percent. Ryan Iwanaga, who dropped out of the race after his name was already placed on the district election ballot, won 7,272 votes, or 8.8 percent. "I'm pleased, and I look forward to transferring my experience in municipal leadership to academic leadership at the college level," Wolfe said. Wolfe said that as a district board member, he hopes to keep West Valley and Mission colleges, "on the leading edge of technology." Schwartz, a former West Valley-Mission College board president, offered support to his competitors. "I congratulate them," he said. "And I wish them and the district well." Both Wolfe and Schwartz, known adversaries on the Saratoga political scene, avoided election-night comment on each other's campaigns. But the two hopefuls were often at odds at various candidate forums held throughout the campaign season. At issue most often--and questioned most by Saratoga residents--was the issue of the use of a sports field at West Valley College, located at the corner of Fruitvale and Allendale avenues. College officials have stated they hope to build permanent bleacher seating at the field, so that it may be used for home football games. Schwartz told voters he planned to hold WVC to its original promise to the city, and make sure the field remains nothing more than a practice field. Wolfe and Allen went on record separately as stating that while they would not support a stadium--as some residents feared--they had no objection to the school making good use of the field. In Trustee Area 2, incumbent Nancy Rucker easily held onto the one seat available on the board, winning 21,832 votes, or 41.9 percent. Earl Carmichael trailed in second with 11,270 votes, or 21.6 percent. Jason Barba followed in third with 10,040 votes, or 19.3 percent, and Julie Saldana came in fourth, with 8,940 votes, or 17.2 percent. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] Web exclusive to the Saratoga News, November 4, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.