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In the News
Who's running for council?
Levy says he'll be a candidate
By Claire St. John
Davis Enterprise staff writer
January 4, 2006
Although most Davis residents are still breathing a sigh of relief that November's election is a thing of the past, it's not too early to start thinking about City Council elections in June.
Mayor Ruth Asmundson's and Councilman Ted Puntillo's terms expire, but Puntillo has said he is not seeking re-election.
Puntillo, who also is the Yolo County veterans service officer, said he hasn't had a free night in six months. That, among other things, led to his decision.
“For people who work eight hours a day, (serving on the council is) very demanding,” he said. “Some nights I get home at 10, on council meeting nights I get home at midnight. It really starts to invade your personal life.”
Puntillo was elected in 2000 with slightly fewer votes than Asmundson, who because of her top numbers held the mayor's gavel for the past two years.
Asmundson said she intends to run for a second term.
“I enjoy campaigning, actually,” she said. “It's just talking to people, learning what they want.”
Several people have encouraged Asmundson to run, she said, and she's lining up a campaign manager and treasurer and making calls to members of her campaign committee who helped sweep her into office four years ago.
Although nobody's candidacy is definite until the filing deadline in February, several others have been rumored to be council hopefuls.
Some say the rumors are false and others say they're still considering whether to give up their Tuesday nights for the next four years. Only one has confirmed he will run.
“Most of my friends have suggested that I run for council; I think it was just a matter of when for most of them,” said Mike Levy, an environmental attorney with the state Water Resources Control Board. “My wife and I have been talking about it on and off for years.”
Levy chaired the city's Governance Task Force and is a member of the Davis Natural Resources Advisory Commission, among other volunteer commitments.
Levy said the upcoming General Plan update needs to be a cooperative, not combative, process.
“I'm a strong believer in public participation,” he said. “We have some obvious, significant divides.”
Levy also would like to be a guiding hand in shoring up the city's economic base, he said.
Former Councilmen Stan Forbes, Mike Harrington and Ken Wagstaff have also been rumored to be getting their applications in order, but Harrington and Wagstaff quashed those rumors this week. Forbes said he is still weighing the decision.
“It hasn't been ruled out and it hasn't been ruled in,” Forbes said. “A lot of people have asked me to run.”
Forbes served on the council from 1996 to 2000, failed to win re-election and lost the vote again in 2004.
Wagstaff, who served from 1998 to 2002, and as mayor from 2000 to 2002, was rumored to have considered running for City Council, but many observers thought instead he might rather take on Yolo County Supervisor Helen Thomson, who is also up for re-election this year.
“Rumors will be rumors, but I don't have plans to run for anything,” Wagstaff said.
Harrington, who served on the council from 2000 to 2004, said he has no plans to run.
The dark horse in the race might turn out to be Jim Provenza, who is currently serving on the Davis Unified School District Board of Education.
Provenza said he has not made a decision as to whether he'll run, but people have urged him to do so.
“It's kind of a surprise for me that there's a vacancy and people want me to run,” he said.
Provenza, like Levy, would most like to tackle the General Plan and bring consensus to a community divided over development and growth.
“We've had almost a schizophrenic situation in the last several years,” Provenza said. “Depending on the City Council, we seem to have different general plans for different groups.”
Provenza would like to see the community significantly involved in the General Plan process, “not just giving input after the fact, but engaged and involved in a meaningful way.”
Mayor Pro Tem Sue Greenwald is expected to step up and take over the mayor's gavel when the new council is sworn in.
Candidates must turn in their applications between Feb. 13 and March 10. Election Day is June 6.
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