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Published on 10/21/1996 All articles from this issue

Koppel for supervisor; Sher for senate; Lempert for assembly

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Editorial

It's been six months since the March primary, and much has changed - including one of our endorsements for candidates running in districts most important to Los Altos in the Nov. 5 election.

After watching the campaigns since the primary, we stick by most of our earlier endorsements. However, in March, we endorsed Patrick Shannon over Byron Sher for the 11th state Senate District. We're now siding with Byron Sher.

Shannon still impresses us with his ambition and determination to challenge business as usual in Sacramento. But his relentless attacks on Sher's record and character, not to mention the dirty campaign mailers, have called his sense of authority and balance into question. Shannon would have been much more impressive if he had stuck to the issues.

Sher still projects the image of an old-time politician committed to continuing relationships with lobbyists and other special interests groups. But he does have a strong record of accomplishment, especially in the environmental arena, and there's something to be said for Sher's consistent record in representing his constituents, based on his 15-plus years in the Assembly.

In the supervisorial race, we once again pick Barbara Koppel, though it was a split decision here among the newspaper staff. The toll of Simitian's ethics charges against the Koppel campaign made it a tough call, but Koppel is an excellent consensus builder and a person easy to do business with.

She has not presented a flawless campaign what with the numerous bookkeeping snafus over campaign contributions. But Simitian's relentless lawyering reminds us that we already may have too many lawyers in government and perhaps need the "kinder and gentler touch" of Koppel. Her track record in creating the coalition of Santa Clara County cities to back the library campaign last year was a show of leadership strength and ability to create goodwill countywide for the good of each community and not just for her hometown.

In the 21st Assembly district, we give the nod to Ted Lempert over former Los Altos councilman Ted Laliotis.

Lempert appears to be bidding for career politician status, but we like his one-on-one verbal communication with peers to accomplish goals - sorely needed when you're one among 80 assemblymen. His focus on education, the economy, the environment and transportation seems enlightened and appropriate.

Laliotis pays lip service to those issues as well, in addition to a commitment to address regulations that bog down high-tech companies.

His years on the Los Altos City Council gave us ample opportunity to observe his "legislative style." We appreciate his awareness of what the problems are, but we're not sure he knows how to go about working with others to fix them.