By Pat Keeble, Editor

While newly elected office holders fidget in the wings waiting for their swearing-in ceremonies, city council members from eight cities are cleaning out their desks.

Dis-electing incumbents happens in every election, but, in the absence of particularly heated controversy, it's not common. Voters, especially in non-partisan races, seem to go along with the incumbents, often even in the face of local controversy.

To have eight incumbents, some of them well-known veterans of several terms, lose their seats in one election is unusual.

In a few of the races, the count is still close, although Contra Costa County elections chief Steve Weir notes that the electronic system used here is about as accurate as it could get. Few if any changes in rankings are expected when the final tally is accounted on Dec. 5, the deadline for reporting the official results to the state.

Here are local highlights of the November 2006 election.

CONGRESS        

11th District

The biggest upset locally was the defeat of Congressman Richard Pombo, whose district includes south-central Contra Costa. Pombo's heavily GOP district and the backing of agribusiness and other big sources, couldn't save him. The Tracy rancher/developer will retire after seven terms in which he vowed to change, if not eliminate, the Endangered Species Act and other laws deemed unfriendly to landowners. Even as head of the Resources Committee, he wasn't able to do that.

Instead, the district will be represented by Democrat Gerald McNerney of Pleasanton. People are still asking who he is, other than the windmill farmer who dared to run against an entrenched incumbent. We'll certainly find out more about him in the coming months.

7th District

Sans even a token Republican opponent, Martinez Democrat George Miller won with 85 percent of the vote. Miller is part of the Pelosi crowd and should be pretty powerful, again, after all these years of GOPism. He'll be chair of the Education and Labor Committee rather than Resources as in the past, when he was able to get major state water legislation.

10th District

Alamo Democrat Ellen Tauscher, now being called a "conservative Democrat" because she emphasizes her business background and fiscal knowledge, has some pundits saying she'll be at odds with new speaker Nancy Pelosi. Tauscher's not that dumb and neither is Pelosi. They may not love each other, but they are pragmatic and know how to utilize each other's strengths.

ASSEMBLY

No surprises on election night. The biggest effect may be that Assemblyman Guy Houston is left as the only Republican partisan office-holder in the East Bay. He'll term out in 2008 and may seek higher office, but the GOP is left with very few likely candidates in the area who might run for his seat.

In the 11th District, Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier took 66 percent of the vote against Republican Arne Simonsen, who ran only a token campaign. The Concord Democrat has a buyer for his restaurant, TRs, which is not likely to continue as a meeting place for the politically connected if rumor is right that it will become a pizza parlor.

In the 14th District, Berkeley Democrat Loni Hancock walked in to her last term. She could retire or she could be a candidate for state Sen. Don Perata's seat when he terms out in 2008. Both the Assembly and Senate districts include portions of Contra Costa. Incidentally, Hancock's husband, former Assemblyman Tom Bates, was re-elected mayor of Berkeley in the same election.

In the 15th District, Houston prevailed over Danville Democrat Terry Coleman in spite of the Dems' vigorous but a little late campaigning. With Houston terming out in two years, we may see more of Coleman, if the Assembly is what he wants. Running this time gives him name recognition and standing in the party, which he can use as a base for the next election.

CITIES

Antioch

Jim Davis was re-elected easily with 33 percent of the vote. The race for the second spot was close but Reggie Moore is holding onto the seat, although he had only an 83-vote lead over Manny Soliz on Election night. Each was credited with 20 percent of the vote. Incumbent Jim Conley ended up fourth, well behind the leaders.

Brentwood

Two incumbents lost their jobs, but not because they were beaten by newcomers. Council members Annette Beckstrand and Ana Gutierrez, both up for re-election to their city council seats, and Bob Taylor chose instead to run against each other for the vacant mayoral seat, Brentwood being one of a handful of the counties cities that directly elects its mayor. Taylor won, leaving Beckstrand and Gutierrez out of office. But Taylor, who was in the middle of his four-year term on the council, leaves a vacancy there when he steps  up to mayor, so it's conceivable one of them could get that seat when and if a replacement is chosen by the remaining council. Meanwhile, newcomers Chris Becnel and Brandon Richey bested nine other candidates for the council seats left vacant by Gutierrez and Beckstrand.

Concord

Incumbent Laura Hoffmeister led on Election Night with 22 percent of the vote, followed by newcomer Michael Chavez with 17.6 percent and -- surprise, surprise! -- incumbent Helen Allen with 14 percent. Helen's off-again, on again, campaign was expected to be a big problem for her, but the developers who funded her, directly or indirectly, don't want to lose her vote on LAFCO, which usually goes their way. Chavez succeeds Susan Bonilla, who in June was elected to the Board of Supervisors. She'll take Mark DeSaulnier's seat in January.  Frequent candidates Ron Leone and Chuck Carpenter were fourth and fifth respectively. The loss for Carpenter, a longtime labor leader, is not soothing to the labor movement, which supported him heavily. Long gone are the days when Concord was a labor haven.

Martinez

Rob Schroder easily won re-election against some political gadflies, but the shocker was former mayor Mike Menesini coming in second for two Council seats. The general feeling was that he was pretty much out of it when Martinez, after nearly two decades of his mayorship, didn't vote for him in his failed attempt at district attorney four years ago. He ousted Bill Wainwright, son of Martinez pioneers, and the only voice against redevelopment on the council. With the re-election of Lara DeLaney, the council has a 5-0 vote for redevelopment. But they didn't need Wainsright's vote to do it before now. They still seem undecided about how to proceed. Menesini, very pro-development, will be happy to guide them.

Hercules

Newcomers Joe McDonald and Kris Valstad won the two available seats with incumbent Treavor Evans-Young finishing third and out.

Orinda

Amy Worth appears to have held on to her council seat by finishing in third place for three seats by a narrow margin over fellow incumbent Laura Abrams. Newcomers Sue Clark Severson and Tom McCormick topped the ticket.

Pittsburg

Popular incumbent Nancy Parent came in first but newcomer Sal Evola came right behind her, followed by incumbent Michael Kee. Evola, part of the Seeno family, had no problem money-wise, spending what is expected to come to record amounts when it's all counted. Evola's win pushed incumbent Bill Glynn out of the money.

Pinole

Veteran Betty Boyle apparently failed to make the cut, falling just behind fellow incumbent Mary Horton, who finished third in the race for the three seats. There were only 102 votes separating them. David Cole and Stephen Tilton are the new members of the council, finishing 1-2 respectively.

Richmond

The city doesn't usually unseat a sitting mayor but overwhelming problems continued and that was bad for Mayor Irma Anderson. Newcomer Gayle McLaughlin remained in the lead by a narrow margin as votes continued to be counted in the days after the election. Much has been made of McLaughlin's being a member of the Green Party, the first to become a mayor in a city the size of Richmond. More might be made of the fact that the Democrats' streak of holding the mayorship in the city has ended.

On the council, incumbents Jim Rogers and Maria Viramontes and newcomer Myrna Lopez were leading for the three seats available, with the perennial "never lose hope" candidate Corky Booze' a close fourth. But incumbent Richard Griffin was last and his lengthy career on the council appears to have ended.

There were no big surprises in the other cities which elected councils.

SPECIAL DISTRICTS

In the major service and utility districts:

East Bay Municipal Utility District

Incumbents John Coleman, Katy Foulkes, Andy Katz and Frank Mellon, all with part of their districts in Contra Costa,  all won with percentages in the high '90s. When will EBMUD be allowed to follow other districts which don't have to pay for an election if there is no opposition?

BART, District 2

Joel Keller of Antioch had no problem winning re-election over challenger Wade Gomes, with 60 percent of the vote.

Central Sanitary District

Incumbent Gerald Lucey and newcomer Michael McGill, a prominent area civil engineer, took the two available seats, ousting Parke Boneysteele, whose first election to the board probably occurred before many of the voters were born.

Contra Costa Community College District, Ward 1

Popular incumbent Sheila Grilli had no problem holding onto her seat over challenger Greg Enholm, who was supported and heavily financed by the colleges' faculty union hierarchy. That, plus endorsements from state Sen. Tom Torlakson and Assemblyman-elect Mark DeSaulnier, must have given Enholm the idea he was a certain winner and he was already soliciting support from other board members for help in carrying out his plans. Perhaps that took time from his simultaneous race for re-election to the Bay Point-area Ambrose Recreation and Park District. He crashed and burned in that one, too. Grilli, on the other hand, has a public service record that stretches out the window and friends including Rep. George Miller, who endorsed her enthusiastically. A bird in the hand is worth the two in the bush.

College District Ward 4

The late John A. Nejedly would be proud of his son, John T., for winning re-election to the college board, even though he didn't have to work very hard to do it.

-11/20/06-