Race Comes to a Close for RPV Council, School Board Candidates

Holding onto leads that lasted throughout the night, three new candidates were elected with all precincts reporting in a municipal election Tuesday.

Competing against seven other candidates for council, former councilwoman and congressional candidate Susan Brooks earned the most votes for a seat, while finance advisory committee member Jerry Duhovic and planning commissioner Jim Knight earned the remaining spots.

With all 20 precincts reporting late Tuesday night, Brooks took 20.42 percent of the vote with 3,929 votes; Duhovic, 17.66 percent with 3,398 votes; Knight, 14.2 percent with 2,731 votes; planning commissioner Dave Emenhiser, 13.43 percent with 2,584 votes; former councilman Ken Dyda, 13.15 percent with 2,529 votes; school board President Dora de la Rosa, 12.05 percent with 2,319 votes; small business owner and teacher Eric Alegria, 7.03 percent with 1,353 votes; and Cynthia Smith, 2.06 percent with 396 votes.

"I've been the subject of a lot of hits," Brooks said shortly after results were announced Tuesday night. "We just maintained our focus on addressing the issues. I believe people were very smart and they saw through it."

Brooks said she looked forward to working with Duhovic and Knight on the council.

"Whether we agree or disagree, we can agree to disagree, and we can do so without any three-ring circus going on," she said, adding the council would be a "respectable group."

Just 147 votes short of a spot on the council as of Tuesday night, Emenhiser said he predicted a close race at the beginning of election season.

"We ran a heck of a race. We worked very hard," he said of his campaign. "I had said from the beginning of the election that 100 votes one way or another was going to swing this election, and that appears to be the case.

"I think it's going to be a good council going forward."

School district

In the race for two spots on the Board of Education, incumbent Larry Vanden Bos led with 38.11 percent of the votes. Erin LaMonte, who works in the district at , also took a spot on the board with 32.52 percent of votes. Dianna Chooljian, a doctor from Palos Verdes Estates, fell behind with 29.37 percent of the votes with all precincts reporting.

Measure M, a local school parcel tax that will secure funding for the PVPUSD, also passed with 68.53 percent of the votes.

It will replace two existing parcel tax measures, Measures P and V, with the same tax rate at $374 per parcel per year. Unlike Measures P and V, which are set to expire in 2013, Measure M has no expiration date. It will protect $7 million in local education spending, according to the district.

Earlier in the election season, in Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates to support Measure M, which they said in part will preserve advanced academic programs in math, science and technology, the retention of teachers and employees, up-to-date classroom technology, and smaller class sizes.