BY NEAL PUTNAM
SAN DIEGO – The City Council voted 8-0 Monday to set March 26 as the special election for the vacant 4th District following the resignation of Tony Young Jan. 1 after he left to head the local Red Cross chapter.
City Clerk Liz Maland recommended the March 26 date so it could be combined with the election to select a replacement for Juan Vargas in the 40th state Senate District after Vargas was elected to Congress by winning Bob Filner’s seat after Filner was elected mayor.
The City would save approximately $100,000 in election costs in combining both the 4th District and 40th state Senate District races.
Maland told the Council if a candidate does not win more than 50 percent of the votes in the 4th District contest, a run-off date would have to be selected. She suggested a run-off in June, but that won’t be set until the election results March 26.
The candidates for District Four include Dwayne Crenshaw, who has run for the same office before and is executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride; Bruce Williams, a policy and community affairs adviser for Young; and businessman Brian Pollard.
Council President Todd Gloria told the audience Monday that Young’s advisors and aides will remain in place until the seat is filled. Gloria said he would represent the 4th District as best he could until the election.
A number of people who are now residents of District Four due to redistricting came forward Monday to complain they will not be able to vote in the March 26 election. Because Young was elected in the 4th District before redistricting occurred following the 2010 census, the election is limited to voters in the original 4th District boundaries.
People urged the City Council to allow new residents to vote, but Gloria told them “the Council’s hands are tied” by election law.
Also Monday, the Council elected Marshall Merrifield and Rafael Castellanos to serve on the San Diego Unified Port District Board of Commissioners. Merrifield and Castellanos were nominated by Councilmembers Scott Sherman and David Alvarez respectively.
Also nominated was Sid Voorakkara, who has served as a board member of The LGBT Community Center, but he and three others did not receive the necessary five votes to win. The Council voted four times before there were enough votes to confirm Merrifield and Castellanos.
Published reports have said that 80th District Assemblyman Ben Hueso intends to run for Vargas’ seat in the state Senate. If Hueso wins, there would have to be another special election to fill Hueso’s seat.
Local labor leader Lorena Gonzalez and former Chula Vista City Councilmember Steve Castaneda have said they would run to fill Hueso’s seat if he wins the 40th state Senate race.
