Saratoga News
News
Voters pick page, king and hunter one-two-three in council race
By Shannon Burkey
The Saratoga City Council election season was a contentious one filled with innuendo, name-calling and "hit" pieces targeting candidates who were not part of the three-person slate, but in the end Saratogans chose to cast their ballots for the candidates with past civic leadership and experience.
Six candidates ran for the three spots on the council. Incumbent Kathleen King sought re-election, while Mayor Norman Kline and Councilman Nick Streit vacated their seats.
Candidates Jill Hunter, Marilyn Marchetti and Jim Sorden ran together as part of a slate. Also running were businessman Chuck Page and attorney Hab Siam.
Finishing first in the polls was Page, who garnered 5,378 votes (20.94 percent). Page, who narrowly missed being elected to the council in 2000, is a former planning commissioner and has been active in the Saratoga community for years. Among other things, he served on the board of the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council, is a past president of the Friends of the Library and works with youth and Sunday school groups at Sacred Heart Parish.
Page said he was pleasantly surprised by the outcome and feels separating himself from the negativity that surrounded the campaign is one of the reasons why he came out on top.
"It's humbling," Page said "This sends a clear message that positive campaigning works. I ran a clean campaign and I ran on my merit. When you have history and background, you don't have to resort to negative campaigning and name-calling."
King finished second, receiving 5,141 votes (20.02 percent). King has been a member of the council for the past four years and served as mayor for the 2004-05 term.
"The positive candidates with experience were set apart," King said. "This shows the power of the next generation in the city."
Finishing with the third-highest number of votes was Planning Commissioner Jill Hunter, who received 4,333 votes (16.88 percent). Hunter has served on the planning commission since 2001, is the chairwoman of the Saratoga Village Development Council, founded the Village Gardeners and is a past member of the school board.
Although she said her victory is bittersweet because the other two members of the slate were not elected, she said she is still pleased and is looking forward to working with Page and King.
"I'm sorry not to have Marilyn and Jim elected, but I have no problem working with Kathleen and Chuck. The future of our city is what is important," Hunter said.
With 15.19 percent of the vote, Siam, who has been a resident of Saratoga for three years, came close to defeating Hunter. Siam received 3,901 votes, only 432 fewer than Hunter.
"I'm disappointed by the outcome, but I'm proud of what everyone did. Jill had a tremendous advantage to start with, and we came close to her and had to overcome a lot of negative campaigning," Siam said. "We had a positive impact on this election, and we focused on the essential values of independence, honesty and integrity. This is really just the beginning."
Sorden, who received 3,816 votes, said he is feeling great now that the election is over.
"I'm quite happy," Sorden said. "I did not enter for personal glory. I entered because I wanted to see a change in the city council, and I think we achieved that."
Marchetti, who finished last with 3,108 votes, said she is a firm believer that things happen for a reason, and she is already moving full speed ahead on other projects. But she is happy Hunter was elected.
"I'm glad Jill got in; she deserves to have it. She has been involved in the city for so long, so I'm very happy for her," Marchetti said. "I just hope things go well in our city, but I have confidence they will."
