After numerous ballots, liberal council member Grant House joined the three conservative members of the council to give Randy Rowse the four votes required to become the next Santa Barbara City Council member, filling the vacancy left by Das Williams' departure for the State Assembly.
Rowse was sworn in immediately after the votes were tallied.
I must admit, I never saw this one coming.
Voting began around 4:20 pm. In the first round, each council member could vote for as many as five applicants. Here's how their ballots looked:
Council member Frank Hotchkiss voted for: Sheila Lodge, Cathie McCammon, Loretta Redd, Sharon Byrne and Randy Rowse.
Mayor Helene Schneider: David Hughes, Brian Fahnestock, John Jostes, Brian Barnwell and Dianne Channing,
Council Member Bendy White: Torell, Channing, Jostes, Hughes, and Barnwell.
Council Member Dale Francsico: Lodge, Rowse, Redd, Byrne. (Francisco only voted for four.)
Council Member Michael Self: Byrne, Barbara E. Mathews, Rowse, Redd and Lodge.
Council Member Grant House, Hughes, Carola A. Nicholson, Barnwell, as well as two other names I didn't catch.
An applicant had to get two or more votes to make it to the second round. From those who made it the members of the Council could vote up to three different persons. The names of those candidates receiving one or more votes would be placed in a pool of applicants eligible for nomination in the next round.
Second round voting looked like this:
House: Jostes, Barnwell, Torell.
Hotchkiss: Byrne, Lodge, Redd.
White: Jostes, Barnwell, Torell.
Schneider: Hughes, Barnwell, Torell.
Self: Lodge, Byrne, Redd.
Francisco: Lodge, Redd, Rowse.
Note that Rowse, the eventual winner only appeared on one second-round ballot, that of Francisco.
The eight who made it into the nomination pool ended up being: Torell, Byrne, Rowse, Jostes, Redd, Lodge, Barnwell, and Hughes.
In the third round each Councilmember could nominate one person each from the list of applicants remaining.
The first go around at that stage had five nominees: Lodge, Jostes, Byrne, Redd, Barnwell. None got the necessary four votes.
Then it was Hughes, Lodge, Barnwell, Redd. Again, no one got four votes. Council members then started nominating several one-on-one match-ups starting with Lodge vs, Hughes, followed by Torell vs. Lodge. With once again, no one getting four votes, the council discussed the mater with Francisco and Hotchkiss making pitches for Lodge and Schneider making pitches for Barnwell, Torell or Hughes.
Voting then resumed with Rowse vs. Torell being the nominees followed by Hughes vs. Rowse. Still, 3-3 deadlocks.
The final match-up was Rowse vs Barnwell. Grant House was the fifth member of the council to vote following, Schneider (who had voted for Barnwell) and Francisco, Self and Hotchkiss (who had all voted in this round for Rowse). He cast the fourth and deciding vote for Rowse, making Bendy White's vote for Barnwell a mere formality.
When it was all said and done, it was about 5:10 pm.
© 2010 by Craig Smith and www.craigsmithsblog.com
