Thread: Escondido, CA: Abed re-elected, Diaz beats incumbent Gallo..

ESCONDIDO: Abed re-elected, Diaz beats incumbent Gallo for second seat in Escondido council race
By DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 5, 2008 11:13 AM PST ∞

106 comment(s)
ESCONDIDO ---- Incumbent Sam Abed and challenger Olga Diaz won the two seats up for grabs on the Escondido City Council in Tuesday's election.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Abed had 27.3 percent of the vote. Diaz had 25.6 percent, beating out incumbent Ed Gallo, who had 22.7 percent, for the second seat.

Three other challengers ---- Richard Barron, Chuck Voelker and Dennis French ---- finished significantly behind Abed, Diaz and Gallo. Barron had 9.8 percent, Voelker had 7.3 percent and French had 6.9 percent.

Diaz's victory over Gallo for second place was a significant victory for the city's firefighters union and for residents who contend that Abed and Gallo have damaged the city's reputation with mean-spirited legislation aimed at making Latinos feel unwelcome in Escondido.

The firefighters union aggressively campaigned for Diaz and against Gallo. The union blames Gallo for the council's decision last summer to staff the city's new fire stations by redeploying existing firefighters instead of hiring new ones.

Many city residents have also criticized Abed and Gallo for joining Councilwoman Marie Waldron in a failed attempt in 2006 to prohibit landlords from renting to illegal immigrants. That trio has faced additional criticism for subsequently trying to adopt overnight parking restrictions as a way to combat overcrowding in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.

Diaz is the first Latino candidate to win a council seat in Escondido. But she did not make race or immigration key issues in the campaign.

Instead, she has criticized the incumbents for the proposed parking restrictions, promising $18.9 million to a developer planning a seven-story downtown hotel and allowing Escondido police officers living outside the city to drive their patrol cars home each night using city gasoline.

Abed and Gallo have argued that the parking restrictions are necessary, the hotel would be an economic boon for the city and the patrol car policy is a relatively inexpensive recruiting tool for talented officers.

Interviewed late Tuesday night at her campaign headquarters on Grand Avenue before the final returns were in and only narrowly ahead of Gallo at the time, Diaz said she was pleased by the early results but still quite nervous about the final outcome.

"I'm glad to be in the running, but I have to win if I'm going to make a difference in this community," said Diaz. "It looks like it's going to be a long night."

Abed said in an interview Tuesday night that he was confident his large, early lead would hold up. It did.

"These results show that people recognize I am a councilman who gets things done," he said. "They are saying they support the change in direction since I was elected."

All three leading candidates acknowledged that attacks on Gallo by the firefighters union were crucial in the election.

Abed reiterated his frustration with the union's negative campaign, but Diaz praised the union.

"They certainly played a key role because they did so much outreach in terms of mailing and sign waving," Diaz said.

www.nctimes.com

Many city residents have also criticized Abed and Gallo for joining Councilwoman Marie Waldron in a failed attempt in 2006 to prohibit landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.

Ahhh but many more gave the most votes to Abed, didn't they?