The District 2 Appointment Gambit – Newsom Leads Informal OB Rag Poll, Jane Gawronski Also Running

19 Candidates So Far In the Running

Now that former Councilmember Kevin Faulconer has been sworn in as mayor, the deck is clear for the appointment process to his seat to begin in earnest.

Chet Barfield, one of the current staffers for the vacant office, appeared at the recent OB Planning Board meeting on March 5th and announced that there are presently 38 applicants for the appointment.  [Ed.: This was later determined to be an incorrect number, and it’s actually 19 as of 5pm 3/`7/14.] Chet also said the City Clerk will soon post the names to their website.

Applicants – or “candidates” – must have their 50 signatures and qualifying statement to the Clerk’s office by March 17. Then on April 14 and 15 the full City Council will pore over the applications with the plan being to narrow down the field to about 6 “finalists”. Once they decide the applicant to take the seat, that person can walk up and literally sit down and begin as a member.  Their term is up on December 8th.

OB Rag Poll

In an informal poll that the OB Rag ran for over a week asking who you’d like to see as the interim-Councilmember, Gretchen Newsom came out on top with 36%.  (At the time, there were only 4 names being mentioned as possible applicants, and Jane Gawronski was not one of them).

Don Mullen – another person in the running – came out with 15%. Two others – Howard Wayne and Ed Harris – each received 6% in the poll. The category “Somebody else” got 26% (the poll didn’t allow any “write-ins”), and the category “Other” took another 6%.  Add those together and we have 32% voting for someone not on the list.  “Don’t care” had 5%.

Only 81 votes were cast, and as usual, the OB Rag cannot determine whether those who voted lived in District 2 or not. So, yes, it’s a very unscientific poll, but it does reflect our readers’ opinions on the matter.

Jane Gawronski in the Running for Appointment

A veteran of the OB Planning Board and local property owner, Jane Gawronski, is also in the running for the appointment. A number of OB activists are circulating her signature petition.

In an interview with both her and her hubby Tom one year ago, we said this:

Jane Gawronski is the current chair of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, holds a PhD and is a retired educator – yet we had to schedule the interview around her busy schedule as she still sits on some non-profits and charter school boards, plus both she and Tom are on the OB Historical Society board.  They also do the Donation Cans for the OBTC Toy and Food Drive and the Donation Cans for the OBMS Fireworks as well.