Zane, Brown elected to supervisor posts

Sonoma County voters elected Shirlee Zane to the Board of Supervisors and returned incumbent Valerie Brown to office in Tuesday?s election.

In the 3rd District race, Zane, the chief executive officer of the Council on Aging, capitalized on her support from unions, her name recognition among seniors and the Democratic Party wave sweeping the nation.

And in the 1st District race for the seat that stretches from Sonoma Valley to Rincon Valley, Brown turned aside a strong challenge from ecologist Will Pier.

The west county race between credit union counselor Efren Carrillo and county planning commissioner Rue Furch was extremely close, with Carrillo clinging to a lead of 670 votes with all but late absentees counted.

Zane said late Tuesday that ?people are ready for some new leadership and new vision on the board, and the winds in the nation were behind me.?

?I also think that voters disagreed when teachers, nurses and firefighters and social workers were painted as special interests,? she said. ?I was the candidate who represented working people and working families.?

Zane defeated former Santa Rosa Councilwoman Sharon Wright, establishing a strong 55-44 percent margin of victory in votes that included early absentee returns and almost all the precincts.

Zane will succeed Tim Smith, who represented the central Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park district for a record-setting 20 years.

In the Sonoma Valley district race, Pier, an ecology teacher, waged a low-cost, grassroots campaign against Brown, a veteran politician who has served on the Sonoma city council and as a state assemblywoman.

With all early absentee returns and most precincts counted, Brown led Pier by 51 to 49 percent.

The election results represented a split decision for unions and environmental groups on one side and business interests on the other.

Organized labor, primarily the Service Employee International Union, put considerable manpower and money behind efforts to elect Zane and Furch. Altogether, unions spent more than $200,000 on efforts to elect them and gain some influence over a disputed labor contract for 2,700 county employees.

Business interests, developers and construction companies spent just as much in independent expenditure committees and direct contributions to candidates. Most of that effort went into an attempt to elect Wright to the central county seat vacated by Smith and, to a lesser extent, it benefited Carrillo.

This election marked the first time in the post-World War II era that two seats were open at the same time.

Decisions by Smith and Reilly not to seek re-election set off an unprecedented dash for their offices when eight candidates competed in the June election for Reilly?s seat and four entered the fray in Smith?s district.

When supervisors begin their new term in January, it will be the first time since the late 1980s that at least two women will be on the board. From 1985 to 1989, Brown?s predecessor, Janet Nicholas, represented the Sonoma Valley at the same time that Zane?s predecessor, Helen Rudee, represented the 3rd District.