Transit Board Battles Hint at New Political Dynamics

Diversity was again a rallying cry for would be candidates vying for positions on two powerful county transit boards.

Last Friday evening, members of the San Mateo County Cities Selection Committee, comprised of representatives from each city council in the county, again gathered to vote for representatives of the San Mateo County Transit Authority (TA) and the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) boards.

This time, it was the City of San Mateo that was the target as representatives of that city have become the dominant players in county transit, eclipsing the former dominance of Daly City.

Menlo Park Councilmember Kelly Fergusson vied for the TA seat occupied by San Mateo City Councilmember John Lee who has served one term on that board. The TA board is responsible for doling out funds derived from the Measure A ½-cent sales tax measured reauthorized by voters in 2004. That measure will generate approximately $1.5 billion over its 25-year life for local transit improvements such as street maintenance, overpass construction, train station upgrades and even local shuttle services within cities.

According to the Daily News, Fergusson failed to garner enough votes from her county colleagues, losing to Lee by a margin of 14 to 6.

Fergusson lobbied her colleagues in pointing out that representatives from the City of San Mateo would hold 5 of 21 seats on four major transit boards governing the county’s transit operations and financing if Lee were to be reappointed. San Mateo’s ascendancy to disproportionate influence increased as San Mateo Councilmember Carole Groom was elected as the central county cities representative to SamTrans with no opposition. Groom joins San Mateo County Supervisor and former San Mateo Councilmember Jerry Hill on that board.

Fergusson’s request for greater diversity recalled previous battles going back several years when representatives from the City of Daly City were called out for such disproportionate influence. Last year, South San Francisco Councilmember Karyl Matsumoto successfully challenged Daly City Councilmember Mike Guingona for a seat on the SamTrans board for much the same reason. Guingona, who had served three terms on that board, was narrowly defeated.

Two years ago, the SamTrans Board was lambasted for appointing former Supervisor Mike Nevin to a seat on the SamTrans Board reserved for a member of the “public” immediately following his forced removal from his previous SamTrans Board seat which he had occupied for 11 years as a county supervisor from Daly City. Nevin was immediately reappointed to the public seat without any member of the public afforded the opportunity to apply or interview for the post. The incident received a remarkable amount of scrutiny until Nevin’s resignation the following year, according to an article in the Almanac Newspaper.

Subsequently, Supervisor Adrienne Tissier, who replaced Nevin in his Supervisorial seat based in Daly City, was selected by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in a deeply split vote to replace Nevin. The dominance of Daly City on all of the board seats Nevin held and re-filled by Tissier caused an outcry throughout San Mateo County, according to an article published in the Daily Journal at the time.

In response, Supervisors Jerry Hill and Rose Jacobs Gibson called for a formal review of all county boards to get a snapshot of and to improve the representation of diverse communities, including geographic diversity. The report was released in May of 2005 by the county manager to the Board of Supervisors with obvious conclusions. For example, 83 percent of all county board members are white, but a full 50 percent of the county’s population is not – meaning the county’s appointments in no way reflect the population of the county.

At the time, Hill, in a San Mateo County Times article stated "We've failed, we really have," Supervisor Jerry Hill said. "In our outreach and trying to get representation that represents the county as a whole."

Since then, nothing has been done.

Nonetheless, some changes are afoot. San Mateo is rising at the expense of Daly City and other communities.

Grooming Groom

Another consequence of the most recent vote also highlights other less obvious political maneuvering.

San Mateo Councilmember Carole Groom’s rise in profile in San Mateo County may be a precursor to her bid to replace Hill on the County Board of Supervisors should Hill succeed in his bid reach the State Assembly when current Assemblymember Gene Mullin terms out of office.

San Mateo County has a long tradition of setting up the pre-determined successors to office and it appears Groom has been, well, groomed.