The Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods noted in an article posted on the Contra Costa Times website that seven people had taken out nomination papers to run for the March 3, 2009, Claremont City Council election. There are two seats up for grabs in the next election.
Woods' article said:
In Claremont, one seat on the City Council became open when Mayor Ellen Taylor announced she would not seek re-election. Incumbent Corey Calaycay's seat is also being contested.
Calaycay, Pam Forsyth, Bridget Healy, Michael John Keenan, Larry Schroeder, Laki Tisopulos and Sal Medina had taken out nomination papers, but only Calaycay and Healy had returned them by midafternoon Friday.
The normal deadline to file would have been close of business at City Hall on Friday, but as Woods explained in his piece, by state law the deadline was extended three business days because an incumbent, Mayor Ellen Taylor, decided not to run for re-election.Calaycay is an incumbent. Healy is the Assistant City Manager in Indio under Glenn Southard. Schoeder is a former city staffer for several cities in Southern California. Forsyth is a registered nurse. Tisopulos is a policy wonk at the AQMD. Medina is owner of the wine bar in the Packing House. And Keenan is the wunderkind, the Harlod Stassen of Claremont politics.
We'll have more on how this race is shaping up after the filing deadline closes. If the field remains at two, it may signal a change in the local political scene and could indicate a détente of sorts has been reached between the Claremont 400, who are backing Healy to replace Taylor, and Calaycay, who originally ran in 2005 as a voice for people who felt their views were not fairly represented on the council.
On the other hand, if you see the same people backing Healy pushing another candidate, then you can bet that they are targeting Calaycay for defeat. That was the pattern in past elections, when the Claremonsters not only ran candidates for all the available seats, but also ran straw candidates to siphon off votes from potential challengers.We'll be able to parse this better after the extended filing period closes next Wednesday and after supporter and contribution lists come out.
UPDATED 7:20PM
Well, folks, looks like we have a race. It's unconfirmed, but this came in this evening from Larry Schroeder:
DATE: Sunday, December 7, 2008 5:59 PM
SUBJECT: Picture of Larry Schroeder Candidate for City Council
FROM: "Larry Schroeder"
TO: Claremont Buzz
Dear Claremont Insider,
I will have my campaign supply you with a recent picture early this week. Also, I filed my papers with the City Clerk on Friday, December 5th late in the afternoon.
Larry Schroeder
Candidate for Claremont City Council
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