‘The new, the bold, and the old’

Wentworth, Richardson, Fernie win seats on Mammoth Council; Braun crushes Obenberger; Corless wins outright.

Turnout may have been less than usual, but there’s nothing usual about a sitting Sheriff losing by 28 points.

Election season always provides a few surprises here in Mono County.

“I honestly didn’t know how it would turn out,” Braun said. “I was hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. But the people voted for change.”

Braun was at the election party at Side Door when the absentee results came in at about 9:15 p.m. “The margin was significant enough that I was confident but I didn’t publicly declare [victory].” 34 percent of voters in Mono County voted by mail. Braun won the Sherriff’s race with 64 percent percent of the votes.

Stacy Corless was also at the Side Door until about 9:30, just after the absentee votes came in. “I was ahead then, but by a narrow margin,” she said. Corless ended up winning the District 5 Supervisor’s race with 55 percent of the vote. “It’s a huge relief to win and get going.”

In the District 1 race, Larry Johnston beat out Bill Sauser by 49 votes; four years ago Johnston won by only 5 votes.  “We did what we could to get the vote out, contact people along the way, walk the neighborhoods,” Johnston said.

“I’m excited to have John and Colin up there with me,” Shields Richardson said about the Town Council results. “As Colin said, ‘the new, the bold, and the old.’ We have a lot to do and we are going to hit the ground running.”

“At least between the three of us, we provide a really diverse profile of knowledge base and background. That’s going to be a real asset to council,” Fernie said.

“It was a good, healthy set of views and choices for the voters,” John Wentworth said. “And I think our voters [have an] inherent intelligence about things.” Wentworth won the most votes for Town Council with 812 votes. Richardson received 742 and Fernie 685.

In the Assessor’s race, Barry Beck beat out the appointed incumbent Bob Musil with 53 percent of the vote.

The winners also weighed in on voter-turn out.

“I thought it would have been higher, but I was happy with it,” Braun said. With a statewide average of 18.3 percent, “For us to be above 50 percent is awesome,” Braun said. Mono County had the third highest voter turnout in California, at 54 percent.

“I thought it would be more in the 60 to 70 percent range,” Johnston said.

“Mono County shows once again that we take our democracy seriously,” Wentworth concluded.

But some have questioned whether gender may have played a role in the democratic process.

Although Braun never experienced outright sexism during the campaign, she did hear rumors that Mono County would never hire a female Sheriff. After the results came in, and both Stacy Corless and herself were elected, Braun said, “Obviously there isn’t sexism at the County level.”

“People made informed choices,” she said. “Maybe the voting was actually gender-neutral.”

Corless disagreed. “There’s always a gender difference,” she said. “Most of my detractors were men, but I just tried to focus on reaching out to people in District 5.”

About the Town Council race, Corless said, “We had a great pool of candidates and it was gender balanced. Most people really voted for who they thought was the best candidate. I hope some of the strong women candidates run again in two years.”

“I never really gave much credence to that thought,” Fernie said about gender playing a role in election results. “I think what it really came down to is that there were diverse candidates. People voted on the candidates that they thought could do the job.”

“I think voters are a lot more sophisticated that people give them credit for,” Wentworth agreed.

“I’m disappointed,” said Mammoth resident Andrea Walker about the Town Council election results. “The one person who won and does have children didn’t even raise them here. The reason I voted for two women is that I feel like I can relate to them. I would have liked to see some mothers up there.”

Mammoth resident Lisa Isaacs weighed in on the issue, however. In the week prior to the election, she sent out an email endorsing winning candidates John Wentworth, Shields Richardson, and Colin Fernie.

“While I really wanted to vote for a woman, I feel I must vote for candidates I believe will be the best leaders for where we are right now— facing unsavory and challenging realities along with an uncertain future,” she wrote.

The day before election, Isaacs elaborated on her decision to vote for all male candidates for Town Council.

“I talked to other women I know and really mulled it over, and I had to vote for who I thought was most qualified,” she said. “… It’s not women’s rights to put someone in place just because they’re a woman. You need the most qualified person for the job.”

Isaacs also argued that while the three Council winners may be men, “hopefully they’re listening to a lot of women. All these guys, they have direct lines to women as advisors.”

Whether this will mean a Council that considers issues such as lack of childcare and daycare options in town remains to be seen.

Three of the women candidates agreed that sexism had little to do with the election results. (Karen Sibert’s only comment: “It was a great campaign, all the way around.”)

Said Elena Blomgren, “I don’t think gender is a real issue. I think the men who won, they’re great men … At the end of the day, it’s about getting the job done, not who’s doing it.”

When asked if she would consider running again in two years, Blomgren laughed. “I don’t know,” she replied.

Blomgren added that her true success during the campaign came when she was approached by a resident who told her, “‘You’ve inspired me to get involved in my community.’ Job done!” Blomgren said.

Deb Pierrel attributed her loss in part to voters’ preference for the other three women candidates over the single family home rental issue. In doing so, she noted that in her opinion, some voters did choose to vote for (not against) women candidates because they were women.

Pierrel said that the people who wanted to vote for women, also didn’t want to vote for single family home rentals. She was the only woman in support of single family home rentals.

“I am a strong, independent thinker who is not out to pacify anyone on any issue, and being as forthright as I am, well, you just cannot please everyone,” Pierrel said. “Then, of course, the three winners had large support from media to Mammoth Forward and most of the current establishment vote, which I expected. Now I expect some accountability and some immediate and big results.”

Regarding the influence of gender on the race, Cleland Hoff said, “That’s hard to say. I know that Town Council has never been big on getting women into office. I think it would have changed a lot more of the dynamics of the Town [if more women were in office].”

But Hoff pointed out that two other women, Ingrid Braun and Stacy Corless, were elected to County positions in this year’s race. “I think if the proper woman came along, for instance Ingrid or Stacy, [they would get the vote],” Hoff said. “I think people were just voting for who they thought would do the best job.”

But, she added, “I did joke with John Wentworth that if I run in the next two years, I’m going to get a weenie.”

Hoff said she intends to stay tuned in to Town politics now that the race is run. “It was a great experience, and I plan on staying involved in the political scene,” she said. She’ll also be turning her attention to starting up Skip’s Farmers Market on July 2.

“I’ll be making that a tribute to [former Council member and Mayor] Skip [Harvey],” she said. Even more so this year, she added, “Now that I know a portion of what he went through.”