A final count last Wednesday revealed incumbents Andy Stern and Sharon Barovsky won the election with 1,443 and 1,353 votes, respectively. Measure U, the proposal to increase council member term limits, lost in a landslide.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Mayor Andy Stern and Councilmember Sharon Barovsky were officially declared winners of the 2006 City Council election after 336 absentee and provisional ballots were counted last Wednesday at City Hall.
Stern received 1,443 votes and Barovsky, 1,353. Challenger John Mazza came in third with 1,283 votes. Ryan Embree received 850 votes and Ed Gillespie came in last with 363.
Measure U, the proposal to extend the amount of four-year terms a person can serve on the City Council from two to three, had already been clearly defeated Tuesday night. The final result after Wednesday’s count is 1,911 votes against the measure and 739 votes in favor of it.
Election Day ended last Tuesday with no clear winner in the council race. Although Stern had a healthy 136-vote lead over third-place Mazza, Barovsky was ahead of Mazza by just 56 votes.
Stern said after the final ballots were counted that he was grateful to have won the election.
“I ran a positive campaign and I think the voters responded to me,” Stern said.
The mayor said he believed his opponents received more votes than they would have otherwise because they conducted negative campaigns, including what he said were false attacks against the incumbents through campaign literature and mass e-mails.
Regarding Mazza and Embree’s campaigns, Barovsky said, “I have never seen so many negative attacks in my life.”
She added, “At every forum and in every flyer, John Mazza didn’t say what he stood for, he just said how bad we were.”
In responding to Barovsky’s comment, Mazza noted that his newspaper advertisements included a list of promises to voters on actions he would take as a council member. He added that Barovsky was the one who conducted the negative campaign by spreading rumors throughout the city about him.
“She had her standard whisper campaign,” Mazza said. “I’m not going to say what she said against me.”
Barovsky called Mazza’s accusation “ridiculous.”
Mazza said the low voter turnout-33.9 percent of Malibu’s 8,418 registered voters-was a sign of apathy in the city. He had no explanation for why there was a lack of interest in who was on the City Council. Mazza added that it was nearly an impossible task for him to compete with the incumbents because of the power of incumbency.
“That’s why it was important that Measure U lost,” Mazza said. “In 2008, two of the incumbents won’t be able to run.”
Mazza said he did not know if he would run in that election. He said he was taking a break from city politics for now.
Gillespie said he would definitely run again in 2008. He admitted he was a political unknown this year, but he said that would change when the next election comes around.
“I will be getting involved locally in several things and remain on the Chamber [of Commerce Board of Directors],” Gillespie said. “And by the time two years rolls around, people will get to know me a little better.”
Gillespie, who raised the least amount of money of all the candidates, limited his campaigning to posting signs around the city and putting up a giant banner next to his house. He said had he raised more money, perhaps he could have been more competitive in this year’s race.
“But the incumbents have a great following and being an incumbent like that, it is hard to fight them,” Gillespie said. “Being the favorites, people gravitate to that.”
Embree did not return calls for comment.