Candidates who were backed by administration win election

Geddes, Long win seats over task-force members

Election turnout low

By Oakley Brooks

When the smoke had cleared after what Fire Chief Ernie Kraule described as the most fiercely fought election in his three-decades-long involvement with the Saratoga Fire District, little had changed.

The Kraule-backed candidates, Joe Long and incumbent Jay Geddes, captured the two open commission seats by fighting off a challenge from Firefighters and Citizens Task force members Barry Ford and Dave Dolloff.

Now, Kraule appears content that he can operate comfortably, even with the newcomer, Long, on the three-member governing commission that oversees him and his operation.

"It's encouraging," Kraule said. "We don't have to go through a tremendous reorganization."

By an uncertified tally of all precincts, Long, a local real estate agent and on-call firefighter, grabbed 29.8 percent of the vote Nov. 7.

Geddes, the only incumbent running, narrowly defeated Ford, a former San Jose City firefighter, by 49 votes--24.9 percent to 23.6 percent.

Dolloff, the chairman of the task force, finished fourth with 21.8 percent of the vote.

Voter turnout was low, as expected in an odd-year election. Just 2,027 of the Saratoga Fire District's 7,823 registered voters, or 25.9 percent, cast ballots at the polls or by the absentee process.

Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters officials said they hoped to certify the election by Thanksgiving. But that appears to be a formality as all the candidates have expressed acceptance of the apparent outcome.

Fire Commission Chairman Bob Egan was satisfied with the selection of Long and Geddes, whom he had also backed in the election.

"We can get back to the business of the Saratoga Fire District now," said Egan.

Saratoga Mayor John Mehaffey said the choice of Long--the son of a fire commissioner who had insisted the election wasn't "about change"--and Geddes, a commissioner since 1991, indicated voters were happy with the way the commission has been running the district.

However, Mehaffey said he would like the commission to consider Ford and Dolloff's campaign proposal that the district be more open to public involvement and hold meetings at more accessible evening hours.

Long said that voters swung their support behind him based on his pledge to quickly build a new fire station and maintain local control of the fire district.

Long suggested during the campaign that if elected, Ford and Dolloff might push for a contract between the district and the surrounding Santa Clara County Fire Department.

On the subject of the new Village public safety center, which might incorporate fire facilities, Mehaffey said that the selection of Long and Geddes was not a referendum against the center.

In their campaigns, Long and Geddes had pushed for a fire station to be built independent of the development and construction of a public safety center. They have said that a new station could be incorporated into a safety center after the station is built. But after his election, Long said he wished to sit down with the city and settle its differences with the district administration on the future station.

Saratoga Union President Capt. Bill Morrison said he was disappointed by the outcome of the election. Both the local and county chapters of the International Association of Firefighters had thrown their support behind Dolloff and Ford.

"I'm sad we didn't get our message out to more people," Morrison said.

Both Morrison and Dolloff said the task force would continue to push district administration toward a more productive dialogue with Saratoga firefighters.

The defeat of Ford and Dolloff ends a campaign in which the two had been sharply critical of the fire district and in which they urged reform of the commission.

In addition to questioning the district's openness to public involvement, the task- force candidates suggested that its plans for a new station--which the city has put on hold--were flawed.

In the days leading up to the election, the debate among candidates and their supporters grew even more caustic.

Geddes suggested Ford and Dolloff's campaigns had "all the trappings of union takeover," and that their support for a full exploration of the public safety center was part of a plan by backer Don Whetstone to turn the fire station property into a park.

Task force supporters then took issue with Joe Long's campaign mailer offering condolences to the firefighting victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying he was taking political advantage of a tragedy.

Even with the election settled, neither side plans to let down its guard completely. Dolloff said the task force would continue its presence as a de-facto "oversight committee" for the district.

Kraule said he wouldn't consider any of the issues raised by the task force in his future management of the district.

But Assistant Chief Gordon Doncan--who's managed to remain neutral through all of the recent politicking--emphasized last week that some ongoing debate is healthy.

"If there wasn't a little struggle going on I would be concerned," said Doncan. "You don't progress without struggle."

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