Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Ann Marie Burger lost her seat on the Saratoga City Council on Tuesday night, bested, along with candidate Beth Wyman, by two Measure G proponents.

City Council's Face Changes

Shaw, Bogosian win seats by comfortable margin

By Sarah Lombardo

In a move that promises to drastically alter the city's political landscape, Saratoga voters on Nov. 5 elected Stan Bogosian and Jim Shaw to the City Council.

The local activists, who achieved major changes in Saratoga's land-use policies by sponsoring Measure G this spring, edged out incumbent Ann Marie Burger and politician Beth Wyman in the race for two seats.

Shaw, 69, and Bogosian, 44, garnered 31.8 percent and 29.6 percent of the vote, respectively.

Burger, 51, a Measure G opponent and former city mayor, came in third with 19.7 percent of the vote. Wyman, 63, a former Morgan Hill mayor and councilmember, earned 18.8 percent of the vote.

"We're all very elated here," Shaw said at a party for his and Bogosian's campaign held at supporter Francis Stutzman's home Tuesday night.

Shaw and Bogosian said the results prove their claims that residents want serious change in Saratoga.

"I'm not much of a student of what the power structure was," Shaw said, "but it does seem a pretty powerful endorsement of what we were saying."

From the beginning of the campaign, both candidates promised change at City Hall. Riding on the popularity of Measure G, the growth-control initiative that voters passed overwhelmingly in March, and the falling off of City Council support that has followed the measure's implementation, Shaw and Bogosian promised the fair implementation of G and a policy of respect for residents' concerns about increasing development.

Throughout their campaign, Shaw and Bogosian pointed to their lack of experience in politics as proof that they were in touch with residents' sentiments. Some of Shaw's campaign literature read: "A newcomer to politics with new ideas."

Shaw's first venture into city politics was with the Neighborhood Preservation Initiative, or Measure G. The retired Westinghouse contracts manager said he got involved because he saw a lack of regard for residents' ideas on the part of the council. He became treasurer of the Save Our Neighborhoods Initiative Committee (SONIC), which sponsored Measure G.

Bogosian, whose only city government experience was brief stint on the Planning Commission, was a co-founder of SONIC.

Bogosian said he thought the election was a strong reaffirmation of the feelings that fueled the Measure G campaign.

Both candidates said they plan to begin working with the other members of the council, who opposed Measure G, to reevaluate Measure G implementation. Although the measure's campaign in March split the city into factions and the City Council race was similarly bitter, Shaw said he is hopeful that everyone can look beyond the battle.

"We think this is a first step in effecting the changes that [Bogosian and I] talked about in the campaign. We're looking forward to working with the council to get those changes effected," Shaw said. "I don't want to encourage the idea of, 'Well, our side won this time and we can win again next time.' ... We should work out our problems and our issues together."

Wyman, a management analyst with the Santa Clara County Community Development Program and an instructor at San Jose State University, said she was happy for Shaw and Bogosian.

"I have enjoyed the adventure," she said. "It has been a very good experience in many ways for me, and I certainly wish [Shaw and Bogosian] success."

Burger was unavailable for comment at press time.

For both Burger and Wyman, the election was fraught with problems.

Early in the campaign, Shaw and Bogosian accused Burger and Wyman of bringing unnecessary political action committee influence into Saratoga by attending candidates forums sponsored by the Los Gatos-Saratoga District of the Peninsula-West Valley Association of Realtors and the Saratoga Good Government Group. Shaw and Bogosian boycotted those forums; Burger and Wyman said they would attend any forums at which they had the chance to speak with voters.

The only candidate to accept a PAC donation was Wyman, who accepted $1,000 from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee, based in Los Angeles, according to campaign finance statements filed Oct. 24.