Well-we survived election day. Some riots, some protests. Many surprises. Some victories. Some fails.

I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t completely surprised by the outcome of the sales tax measures. The ECA supported DD, and opposed Measure O in Santa Rosa, and otherwise took no position on the rest of the tax measures. There is an interesting article in the Press Democrat about the passage (apparently-votes are still being counted) of every single one of the tax measures in Sonoma County and the Cities in SOCO. I never would have thought the Petaluma voters would say YES to a 1 cent sales tax increase FOREVER. Not in the pandemic era. Not ever. But they did.

The big news for ECA members is that Measure DD, the continuation (with some modifications) of the successful Measure M ¼ cent sales tax that is set to expire in early 2025, has passed with 72% voting in favor. This was a controversial Measure inasmuch as our (ECA’s) usual “allies” (North Coast Builders Exchange, Farm Bureau, Santa Rosa Metro Chamber and North Bay Leadership Council banded together in an organized opposition to Measure DD and ALL sales tax measures on the ballot. The courage of our Board of Directors at the ECA, as well as some very generous and “risky” donations by ECA members, were enough for us to “go it alone” with some help from the Sonoma County Alliance to get the message out and successfully pass this critical tax measure. What does it mean to have passed Measure DD? To say that the ECA is in the good graces of the electeds of all nine cities and the County who all needed this revenue to continue fixing roads is an understatement. I am not one to spout hyperbole often, but our reputation for working with folks on the left and on the right in order to get DD passed, has never been better and we have cemented a good relationship into a great relationship with most of the elected officials in the County and in all nine cities of SoCo. Do we rest on our “win”? Nope. I will be advocating for expanding our government affairs outreach into Marin County so we can solidify relationships in Marin County and become more of a “player” in that area for a Return on Investment to our lang standing Marin ECA members. I would like to consider doing the same for Napa, Lake, and Mendo and our Govt Affairs Committee will be discussing the “how to” do that in the coming months. Suffice to say, bringing a stream of $16-26 million of funding opportunities for 20 years into our future is a very, very good feeling.

I want to thank our Government Affairs Committee of Antonio Mencarini, Dale Mahoney, Art Deicke, Dave Weller, and Jeff Okrepkie (and the late addition of Ross Liscum was also helpful). I want to give a huge shout out to the Board of Directors who decided to go way out on a limb and support Measure DD without much hope of success when it became clear there would be opposition. But in particular, I want to thank those firms that stepped up and contributed to the campaign which enabled us to raise $110,000 and mail out one flyer to over 156,000 households, make phone bank calls, send banner ads to all the local newspapers and to send out text messages to all voters in the last week that had not yet voted. I want to give a big high five thank you to President Dave Weller of RCX for all of his time and support helping us get through COVID-19 problems while also managing a major campaign effort.

And here is my last thank you-I love this stuff!  And all of the members, whether they believed in DD or not, contribute through dues, sponsorships, ticket sales, donations, etc. to enable the ECA (and yours truly) to devote a large chunk of my time for the last six months to be the Committee Chair and official Treasurer of the Measure DD campaign. I am very proud of our accomplishment and extremely grateful that whether you believed in DD or not, you continued to support the organization and its collective voice which is far more powerful than we were even one year ago.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Here are some links so you can see how your favorite Measures and candidates fared.

Sonoma County Election Results: link

Marin County Election Results: link

Napa County Election Results: link

Lake County Election Results: link

Mendocino County Election Results: link

Solano County Election Results: link

State of California Election Results: link

That’s All Folks!

John Bly

ECA Wins and Losses:

Cotati: ECA Endorsed Ben Ford, Laura Sparks, Susan Harvey ————ECA was 3 for 3!

Petaluma: ECA Endorses Kathy Miller, and Mike Healy——Close but ECA was 1 for 2!

Rohnert Park: ECA Endorses Jake Mackenzie——-ECA was 0 for 1

Sonoma: ECA did not endorse any candidate in Sonoma.

Sebastopol: ECA Endorses Diana Rich, and Evert Fernandez ——-ECA was 2 for 2!

Santa Rosa: ECA Endorses Jack Tibbetts, Chris Rogers, Jorge Inocencio, and Eric Christensen—-Close but ECA looks like we were only 1 for 3

Windsor: ECA Endorses Dominic Foppoli for Mayor—–ECA was 1 for 1

Healdsburg: ECA Endorses David Hagele, Ariel Kelly, and David Jones—-ECA was 2 for 3

Cloverdale: ECA did not endorse any candidate in Cloverdale.

State Ballot Measures:

ECA voted to OPPOSE California Ballot Measure Prop 15—-looks like ECA was 1 for 1

Local Ballot Measures:

ECA voted to ENDORSE Sonoma County Measure DD —–ECA was a HUGE 1 for 1 here!

ECA voted to OPPOSE Sonoma County Measure O, County of Sonoma, Mental Health, Addiction and Homeless Services Measure Transactions and Use Tax Ordinance–ECA was 0 for 1

ECA voted to OPPOSE City of Santa Rosa’s Measure Q, City of Santa Rosa, Sales Tax Extension—ECA was o for 1

ECA voted to take no position on any other State or Local Ballot Measures

 

Overall-ECA was 12 for 19 in our endorsements for 2020!