Political Mailers Show The Shifting Sands of Elk Grove Political Alliances

May 7, 2014 |

It’s that time again when registered voters start finding their mailboxes stuffed with slick mailers from various office seekers. Some of the first to arrive, at about the same time as ballot statements, was a mailer from California State Senate Candidate Dr. Richard Pan.

As part of our on-going effort to archive local political literature, we dusted off the scanner to find a remnant from the 2012 elections. This particular mailer served as a reminder of the shifting sands of political allegiances and one other truism in politics that we will return to later.

Opening the scanner, we found a mailer for then Elk Grove Unified School District Trustee candidate Steve Ly. Like many non-office holders seeking victory, Ly included photos and endorsements from prominently elected officials, in this case Elk Grove City Council Members and fellow Democrats, Jim Cooper and Gary Davis. 

In 2012 Ly was endorsed by Cooper and Davis. 

Ly went on to win a school board seat by beating incumbent Jake Rambo in a landslide victory and making local history by becoming the first Hmong-American elected to office in Northern California. 

At the time of the 2012 election, Davis, who was running to become Elk Grove's first directly elected mayor, shared office space and resources with Ly, who had developed a very strong network of volunteers. Part of this broader alliance included many prominent local Democrats including the aforementioned Cooper as well as California State Assembly Member Roger Dickinson.

In fact, the alliance and confidence were seemingly so strong that at the office opening event for Davis and Ly, in his pitches for Ly, and Davis in particular, Dickinson told the audience that when Davis won office, the perfect person to replace him on the council was waiting-in-the-wings. That person was Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Nancy Chaires.

Once Davis was elected mayor and vacated his council seat, Chaires, along with four others, sought the appointment for the two years remaining on District Four seat he vacated. Even though he initially supported Chaires, after several 2-2 council votes on the appointment, Davis, much to the consternation of fellow council member Cooper, succumbed to the political fear of being tagged with a $500,000 special election and threw in the towel on Chaires and went with Council Member Pat Hume's nominee, Bob Trigg.  

Since that time, the Democratic allegiances in Elk Grove have shifted.

Dickinson, whose Chaires-waiting-in-the-wings comments came back to haunt her during the appointment process, is in a tight primary race with Dr. Richard Pan to replace termed-out California State Senator Darrell Steinberg. Dickinson, along with Davis, has abandoned Chaires in favor of Ly, who along with Chaires and Daniel Jimenez are seeking the District Four Seat on the Elk Grove City Council. 

Conversely, Pan has endorsed Chaires in her bid and Cooper, who originally appointed Chaires to the planning commission, has been steadfast in his support. Ironically Ly, who formally entered the race earlier this year, spoke on behalf of Chaires during the appointment process.     

For Dickinson and Pan, the shifting alliances are nothing more than placing their bets on the candidate who can best help their campaigns. As for Davis' shift of allegiance, one can only theorize.

Ly, who won a whopping 66-percent of voters in the school board election, was certainly an eye-opener. Ly won in a district that is bigger than the City of Elk Grove in size and geography, in large part by use of an extensive, and highly-motivated cadre of unpaid volunteers.

Can Davis be angling to use Ly's dedicated volunteers for his own purposes?

It is also worth considering that should Ly prevail over Chaires and Jimenez, will Ly then be beholden to Davis' various schemes? Following the appointment debacle, other than the mutual party affiliation with Cooper, Davis really has no apparent allies on the council. 

Trigg will be gone, Hume and Detrick, who respectively has a very good chance of being reelected to a third term and is half way through a second term, are not allied with Davis. Right now, Davis is politically isolated.

Of course, Chaires' could offer benefits to Davis, as well. Aside from her extensive connections at the State Capitol, Chaires is strongly supported by local Democratic women. 

Conversely, in Elk Grove's 14-year history, there has been only one woman on the council and none for the last two years, and anecdotally, there seems to be a pent-up demand to have another [more] woma[e]n on the dais. Could it be that Davis is afraid she will outshine him, or at a minimum, not follow his lead?  

Perhaps there is something more at play for Davis. While he is not a good retail campaigner in the mold of a Cooper, Davis is nonetheless cunning and calculating. 

We saw this with his office shopping that brought him to Elk Grove from Natomas for his successful 2006 run against a very unpopular city council member, Dan Briggs. Then in 2012 with his mid-term run for mayor and the abandonment of Chaires during the District Four appointment process. 

Could it be Davis sees both Ly and Chaires as potential political threats? 

After all, Chaires has a Harvard-pedigree, has seven-plus years as a planning commission and is a woman while Ly has proven his organization is effective at getting-out-the-vote and good at retail campaigning. What better way to eliminate one potential future threat by two very strong political up-and-comers than manipulate one into running against the other.

More over, Davis could end up killing two-birds with one stone with the entry of Jimenez in the race. As the de facto Republican in the race, if he runs a decent, adequately-funded campaign, Jimenez could win a three-way race in a mid-term election that historically draws great numbers of older, white, and more conservative voters.

Of course this implies that Davis does not hold party loyalty close to his political heart. There too, he does have some history dating to 2008 when he did not endorse his fellow Democrat, Katherine Maestas, who ran against Republican Sophia Scherman for the Elk Grove City Council.

Obviously Davis will never publicly reveal why he abandoned Chaires in favor of Ly. We can only look at his history and try to connect the dots.  

Coming back to the other political truism referenced earlier, Davis' maneuvers ring true the adage about friends in politics - if you want one, get a dog.