City council: Dems retain control

Democrats will enjoy another four years as the majority party in Bloomington city government -- a position backed by 32 years of tradition. \nAfter a long day of waiting for results and several close district races, the 2003 city council election ended with Democrats winning seven of the nine seats on the city council.\n"I'm happy with the Democratic party and with the effort we all put forth," said Regina Moore, Vice Chairman of the Democratic party and current city clerk.\nSeven current council members who ran for re-election successfully won their respective districts and two newcomers, Democrats Chris Sturbaum and Steve Volan were also elected to the council.\nAfter election results were announced, candidates including mayor-elect Mark Kruzan, Fred Prall and Moore filtered into the Monroe County Public Library to speak and celebrate with other candidates and members of the Bloomington public.\nSeveral districts had close races. District VI recorded the closest race with newcomer Republican candidate Chris Smith in the lead early against opponent Democrat Steve Volan. The two were tied with 50 percent of the vote with 96 percent of precincts reporting. Minutes later, final results announced Democrat Steve Volan as the winner with 439 votes, a mere 29 votes ahead of Smith's 468. \nVolan expressed his relief once the announcement had been made.\n"It takes a lot of preparation and work to run for office," he said. "It also took a lot of pressure, not from the public, but from the people you know and work with who are depending on you. I am going to listen to the people and I care about the students and I have a lot to say."\nDistrict IV also proved a tough competition, with Democrat Dave Rollo in a close race with Republican candidate Rod Young through most of the evening. In final returns, incumbent Rollo took the election with 54 percent of the vote. Rollo, who was appointed by caucus in January of this year, said he felt good overall about the outcome of the election.\n"I think the issues that I talked about seemed to matter to the public," Rollo said. "I considered the campaign between myself and my opponent clean and Rod Young is a gentleman."\nSix percent of the vote in District IV went to Independent candidate Jim Sherman, who dropped out of the race after the deadline to remove his name from the ballot earlier this year.\nThe final tight finish was in District V. Returns showed republican incumbent David Sabbagh trailing democratic opponent Bill Hayden through most of the evening. Late-reporting precinct numbers gave Sabbagh a last-minute boost, putting him ahead in final returns with 53 percent of the vote.\nSabbagh said he was cleary pleased with the end results, but was discouraged by the lack of Republican wins for the evening.\n"I am relieved, and disappointed that the Republicans didn't do better," Sabbagh said. "I look forward to working with the new mayor Mark Kruzan and I hope to have regular meetings with him as well."\nThe remaining three districts recorded more clear cut finishes. District I Democrat Chris Sturbaum won with 63 percent of the vote over his opponent, Republican Dax Norton.\n"I was relieved when the results came in," Sturbaum said. "I think the public recognizes what the Democrats have done and we can do the best job serving the public."\nNorton was on hand to congratulate his opponent and wish him the best of luck.\nThe second Republican re-elected to the primarily Democratic council was District II's Jason Banach, who beat democrat Susan Sandberg with 54 percent of the vote.\n"I think this victory was bittersweet," Banach said. "Sandberg was my toughest opponent and I think that I ran a very positive campaign. I am very tired and I thank everyone who helped out today or participated."\nSandberg was also present at the Monroe County Library Tuesday evening with the other candidates and congratulated Banach on his victory.\nDemocrat Mike Diekhoff maintained a steady lead over Republican John Hurlow winning with 61 percent in District III. With the Democrats remaining in control, Diekhoff said the party maintained a positive image overall.\n"I think if you look at the party, we kept an open slate, we focused on the issues," Diekhoff said. "I had a plan, I followed it and I came out on top."\nThe final decision of the evening was made for the At-large seats, which were all taken by three Democrats and all current council members. Democrats Chris Gaal, Andy Ruff and Tim Mayer beat Republicans Doug Bruce, Mark Brostoff and Greg Dougherty.\nRuff said he was pleased with the Democrats clenching all three at-large spots. \n"The voters finally validated what (Democrats) have been doing and saying all along," Ruff said. "They validated what I've been doing and saying all along too."\nGaal commented on the overall campaign and the effectiveness of the Democratic party.\n"We ran a very strong, positive campaign," Gaal said. "Our issues were focused through the message we gave to the public."\n -- Contact staff writer Lindsay Jancek at lmjancek@indiana.edu