Photograph by Christopher Gardner
Pete McHugh celebrates his win over Patricia Sausedo in District 3.
By KATHERINE PETERSEN
Milpitas Mayor Pete McHugh defeated former San Jose City Council member Patricia Sausedo by less than two percentage points in the race to be the next county supervisor of District 3.
With votes in all precincts counted, McHugh had 50.9 percent of the vote; Sausedo drew 49.1 percent.
McHugh takes over the district currently represented by Ron Gonzales, who is leaving Jan. 1 due to term limits.
"The main feeling I have right now is gratitude to all the people who helped make this happen. It's looking promising. I think the campaign was the easier part, and I'm looking forward to the challenges in many ways," McHugh said, adding that welfare reform is the biggest challenge the county will face.
A disappointed Sausedo, who had the support of several former Sunnyvale mayors, hadn't decided whether she'd make another run at the District 3 seat, said her campaign manager, Michael Van Every.
McHugh, who has served on the Milpitas council for 20 years, won the primary election in March, which left Sausedo to fight an uphill battle. McHugh had his own burdens to bear in the race, including allegations that he spent campaign funds for personal use during his 1994 mayoral campaign and wrote a $60,000 check to his political consultant, Vic Ajalony, with no official record indicating how the money was to be spent. An investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission is pending.
Sausedo, who owns a consulting company, had been labeled as a developer's candidate.
Both candidates said they would stand behind Sunnyvale and Mountain View residents concerning the future of Moffett Federal Airfield, and that they would like to see NASA remain at the complex.
They also agreed that federal welfare reform was one of the biggest issues the winner of the race would have to face. All legal immigrants would lose welfare benefits as the bill stands now. The county may or may not have to pick up the slack by providing legal immigrants on welfare with general assistance funds.
McHugh said encouraging legal immigrants to become citizens is a step in the right direction.
Both Sausedo and McHugh applauded the work of a re-engineering program at Valley Medical Center, although it may mean some employee reduction. Sausedo wanted to see Valley Medical Center and its physicians be marketed to an insured client base, while McHugh planned to bring public health services into local schools.
McHugh said one of his strongest commitments is to the preservation of the county's open space. He wants to see the county fairgrounds transformed into a "mecca for youth" where kids can play all kinds of sports.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 6, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.