Photograph by Carrie Jensen
And the winners are ... Fred Fowler (left), John Howe and Julia Miller.
Sunnyvale residents cast votes for experience
Fowler, Miller and Howe earn confidence of voters
By Jana Seshadri
Sunnyvale voters have chosen experienced city hall candidates, Fred Fowler, Julia Miller and John Howe over newcomers Thomas Dwyer III, Michael Flores, Judy Esteban and Ronald Ayers for the three open seats on the Sunnyvale City Council. The results will be adopted during the city council meeting on Nov. 20, when Fowler will be sworn in as mayor and Miller and Howe as council members.
Vice Mayor Fowler, running for Seat 1, bagged 58.3 percent with 5,937 votes. His opponent Dwyer was able to garner 41.7 percent with 4,244 votes, giving incumbent Fowler a run for his money.
"My opponent really tried to fight a hard and negative campaign," said Fowler, referring to the Wyant and Smith crematorium issue, which prompted Dwyer to run for city council in the first place.
"Sunnyvale is a well-run city and the voters rejected my opponent's negativity," said Fowler, who professes that the next four years will be most important for him as mayor and council member.
Miller, running for Seat 2, easily beat her opponents bagging 56 percent and 5,659 votes.
"I'm very grateful for the confidence the voters have shown in me by voting me back to the city council," Miller said.
Photograph by Carrie Jensen
Cecelia Montalvo, 4 1/2, tells John Howe that she voted for him. Or would have if she could have. Howe was elected to the council with 65.9 percent of the votes.
Esteban got 26 percent with 2,629 votes and Flores, 18 percent with 1,821 votes.
"It's difficult to oust the incumbent once the opponents have split the vote," Flores said.
Both Flores and Esteban campaigned strongly for campaign finance reform, claiming that most of Miller's contributions came from outside the city. Flores said he plans to take the issue up again with the city council and hopes to run again in the future.
Esteban said she has not made any plans for her future yet and is resigned to the fact that the results clearly indicate what the voters want.
Howe, who has been chairman, vice chairman and member of the Sunnyvale Planning Commission, is the newcomer on the council, beating opponent Ayers by an almost 2-1 margin. Howe received 65.9 percent with 6,612 votes, while Ayers garnered 34.1 percent with 3,422 votes.
Howe was instrumental in developing Transportation Demand Management Programs, which worked toward safe transportation systems and traffic reduction in Sunnyvale. Howe also works closely with Sunnyvale schools and the school district and supports high quality education for all students. Howe supported Measure A, which helped renovate and refurbish Sunnyvale schools.
Ayers, who repairs and remodels homes for a living, campaigned against rapid and massive growth and development in the city.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
