My goodness gracious, it looks as if we have a family feud on our hands now that Mayor Joe Krovoza and Mayor Pro-Tem Dan Wolk have both indicated they lust after the Fourth Assembly District seat held by Mariko Yamada.

What these two don’t realize is that this seat has traditionally been reserved exclusively for a woman from Davis, no boys allowed.

Oddly, there are two others with their hats in the ring, also male, but not from Davis. And while Davisites tend to think of this seat as their very own, the district does include all or part of six counties, which should make for some interesting voters’ forums when the city boys from Davis encounter the pear farmers of Lake County or the rice farmers of Colusa County.

This is, of course, a “safe” Democratic seat, which is almost redundant given the lopsided nature of the California Legislature, so whoever wins the primary wins the seat, no matter what candidate the Republicans throw into the ring for the general election.

Some folks are lamenting the fact that two sitting councilmen will now be spending the next year delivering body blows to each other rather than concentrating on pressing city business, but there are some folks who are licking their chops over just such a prospect (see photo above).

Yes, Davis is the town that keeps on giving, and I can’t think of a better gift than two popular candidates with incredibly similar credentials slugging it out for a seat in the California Assembly.

My friend Bill, while fumbling through the asparagus at Nugget, suggested that these two should have settled their differences in private and spared the town the agony of trying to one up one another at every council meeting for the foreseeable future.

With all due respect to asparagus, that’s nonsense. Better to let the voters have the pick of the litter than to have the job done for us behind closed doors. Let ‘em duke it out in public for all the world to see. The more candidates the better.

If it slows down city business for the next year or so, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, given the track record of this council so far. Sure, they all hold hands and sing “It’s a Small World After All” before every council meeting, but all those 5-0 votes do little for public confidence that a serious discussion of the issues of the day is taking place.

A little give and take is never a bad thing. And now it looks as if we’ll have all sorts of give and take as these two try to distinguish themselves from one another on every issue that comes before the council.

“I voted for clean water and saved the town from certain disaster.”

“It was my idea first.”

And so on.

It will be interesting to see how these two respond to the Next Big Issue in town. Yes, water fluoridation is staring them both in the teeth. Better conduct a quick push poll to see which way the wind is blowing on this one.

And while Davis has more voters than Williams, Dunnigan, Grimes, Knights Landing, Lakeport, Arbuckle and Robbins put together, campaigning in those places as “Mayor of Davis” or “Mayor Pro-Tem of Davis” can be extremely detrimental to one’s electoral success.

I mean, folks in those far-flung towns have never heard of Zipcar and aren’t likely to take kindly to candidates who brag about their plan to ban plastic bags in the local grocery store.

Trust me, these two may admit to being from Yolo County, but if they have good advisors, they’ll never mention their Davis roots while sending campaign mailers to residents who consider Granzella’s their neighborhood bar and grill, and a downed pheasant the state bird.

Gentlemen, man your battle stations. The war is about to begin.

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected]

Comments

comments