Carpinteria Vice Mayor Al Clark apparently has beaten fellow Councilmember Gregg Carty decisively in the race to represent the newly created District 5 on the city council for the next four years.
Semi-official election night results show Vice Mayor Clark receiving nearly twice the number of votes as Councilmember Carty, 321, or 56.32%, vs. 185, or 32.46%/
The vice mayor received 292 mail-in votes and 29 votes Tuesday at the polls Tuesday. Councilmember Carty received 161 mail-in votes and 24 votes at the polls.
Vice Mayor Clark, in a brief text to the News-Press, declined to declare victory Wednesday. “There are still many ballots to count, and it will take a while. Results could change,” he said.
The next election update will be on Nov. 15
Political newcomer Patrick O’Connor trailed behind with 59 votes, or 10.35%, garnering 40 mail-in votes and 19 votes at the polls.
County election officials reported that 40% of 1,560 registered voters in District 5 cast ballots this election year.
Neither Councilmember Carty nor Mr. O’Connor returned phone calls or texts Wednesday from the News-Press, seeking comment.
Using the campaign theme, “Let’s keep Carpinteria Carpinteria,” Vice Mayor Clark ran a series of ads, claiming that he “listens to the people of Carpinteria … and he acts,” and that he “always stands up for what is best for Carpinteria residents over commercial and developer interests.”
One ad stressed that he “continues to have serious concerns about the Surfliner project,” meaning the proposed two-story boutique hotel that a local developer wants to build on a downtown parking lot.
“Al Clark stood alone in urging the city council to put the Surfliner Hotel to an advisory vote of the people,” the ad said. “Had the council agreed, we could have avoided the current complicated and costly process,” an apparent reference to the Measure T ballot measure aimed at stopping the project in its tracks.
Yet at the same time, Mr. Clark declined to join his four Carpinteria City Council colleagues, including Councilmember Carty, in signing a joint statement urging residents to vote against Measure T and the idea of using ballot initiatives to make land-use decisions versus the current practice of review and decisions made by elected officials.
Vice Mayor Clark has the strong endorsement of U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, who said Mr. Clark “brings integrity and commitment to Carpinteria city government. Al’s experience and record show that his is the right voice for District 5.”
In other election news, Councilmember Roy Lee received 477 votes, or 87.2% of the vote in District 3. He ran unopposed but a write-in candidate received 70 votes or 12.8 percent.
And in District 1, political newcomer Monica Solorzano will join the council, winning 309 votes, or 93.35%. Write-in candidate Patty Boyd received seven votes, or 2.11%.
email: nhartstein@newspress.com
