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Cook, Gallian win City Council seats

David Cook and Laurie Gallian have apparently won seats on the Sonoma City Council.

In Tuesday’s election, Cook was the front-runner with 2,283 votes; Gallian, an incumbent, was second with 2,247 votes; Madolyn Agrimonti was third with 2,082 votes while Cameron Stuckey was fourth with 908 votes.

Despite trailing Gallian by 165 votes, Agrimonti conceded Wednesday morning and called both Cook and Gallian to congratulate them. Because of the number of mail-in ballots and provisional ballots turned in during Tuesday’s election, the final vote tally could take as long as four weeks.

Cook, Wednesday afternoon, said he was impressed with the voters. “I got the message out. They heard it and voted for me,” he said. He thinks his last weekend push helped him with voters who went to the polls on Tuesday.

“I picked up votes over the last weekend,” he said.

Cook was up late Tuesday night waiting until all eight precincts were counted. “And I was up again at 5 (a.m.). It was kind of an adrenaline rush,” he said. “Besides, I had to get to work.”

Cook, who was making his second attempt for a council seat, said he thought the process went smoothly.

The campaign wasn’t contentious and Cook said the candidates have been able to talk

“There were no problems,” he said. “We all have different points of view, but in the end, we’re all Sonomans.”

Gallian too had a late night and an early morning on Wednesday.

“I had maybe three hours sleep,” she said. “And Wednesday morning, I had a thank-you breakfast for my supporters.” She took Wednesday off, but instead of sitting down and catching her breath, she was off to Sonoma Raceway to participate in the escort of the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall and she had plans Wednesday evening.

“I was confident being first or second most of the night,” she said.

This will be Gallian’s second term on the council.

“I want to move forward positively,” she said. And she didn’t think that her 165-vote lead over Agrimonti would evaporate in the final tally.

“Getting 30 percent of the vote is large,” she said. And she pointed out that the second-place finisher in the 2004 council election didn’t get 30 percent.

“I’m relieved to put this election in the bag,” she said.

Gallian said she enjoyed going door-to-door and estimated that she and her volunteers knocked on an estimated 5,000 doors during the campaign.

“People were irritated by the robocalls,” she said. “But the robocalls weren’t coming from any of us.”

Agrimonti, who passed up a chance to run for re-election for her seat on the Sonoma Valley Health Care District board to run for the council, felt good on Wednesday.

“I did the best I could,” she said. “My goals were to walk the precincts – and not to fall down any steps.”

“I met some wonderful people,” she said. “I felt like I’m living in a magazine.”

She encourages others to get out of their comfort zone and run for an office.

Agrimonti said she’s involved in fundraising for the Sonoma Community Center and Sonoma Valley Hospital. “That’ll keep me busy,” she said.

Despite finishing fourth, Stuckey isn’t disappointed. To the contrary, he’s already making plans to run for a seat on the council in the 2014 election when there will be three seats up for grabs.

“I didn’t expect to win,” Stuckey said. “This is just the beginning – not the end.”

He said his goal is run until he wins a seat.

“I wouldn’t be setting a good example if I was a quitter,” he said. “I’m getting ready to file my papers in July 2014. We’re going to make this happen.”

Stuckey hopes to be appointed to a city commission seat. And he has ideas about a recreation department of some sort and neighborhood watch, among others.

“This was my coming-out party,” he said.