A few weeks ago the Sacramento Bee endorsed Dan Carson and Gloria Partida for city council. Both the Bee and the Enterprise have endorsed a yes position on the Nishi project. On Sunday, the Enterprise came out with its endorsements for city council and, while Dan Carson continues to be the frontrunner and gains another endorsement, the battle for second continues to heat up with Linda Deos gaining some momentum.
It’s hard to know and easy to overstate how much these things matter, but for Ms. Deos, this is a second major endorsement following the support of the Yolo County Democratic Central Committee.
In the Enterprise view: “Emerging from a crowded field of contenders, City Council candidates Dan Carson and Linda Deos have separated themselves from the pack as the clearest choices for the 
June 5 election. Davis voters would be well served by electing them.”
That is clearly the case – at least from an electoral position – with Dan Carson, but the second place finisher remains to be seen.
On Dan Carson the paper noted his experience working in state government in the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Notably the paper spent two paragraphs talking about his background at the state, noting that with the LAO “he worked hands-on on the sorts of tough fiscal issues that Davis will be faced with in the coming years, and got an inside perspective of the workings of state and local government.”
He then retired in 2012 and “turned his attention to the city of Davis, where he’s lived with his family for nearly 30 years.”
In Davis, he has been serving on the Finance and Budget Commission, a body he now chairs. They write, “Once again, he had a close-up view of the coming fiscal challenges that Davis faces. But he’s not despondent about it.”
“It’s not time to panic,” he told the Enterprise in November, “but we do need to take serious actions.”
The Enterprise here clearly chose his experience rather than issue positions to highlight.
They write: “This spirit of problem-solving has been a feature of his campaign, along with demonstrating a solid, well-researched grasp of the issues before the candidates. His campaign has been free of ideological grandstanding, offering instead fact-based, consensus-driven solutions to the problems of city government.”
They conclude: “For his expertise, for his diligence and for his commitment to finding real solutions to the city’s problems, we are proud to endorse Dan Carson for City Council.”
For Linda Deos, the paper also emphasized experience, talking about her background as an attorney and experience with contract negotiations and employment law. But they focus more on her activism and political involvement.
They write: “Since announcing her candidacy, she has shown an impressive grasp of the issues, both in terms of researching the facts and in reaching out to all parties to get their perspective. On 
the issue of city growth, she avoids dogmatic pronouncements in favor of working to meet Davis’ civic and infrastructure needs without compromising the character of the city.
“In person, her enthusiasm and affection for the city of Davis is palpable, as is her commitment to stand up for all citizens,” they write. “We think she would make a tireless, effective addition to the City Council, and hope Davis residents vote for her on June 5.”
The Enterprise in this editorial does not discuss any of the other candidates so it is hard to know their evaluation process.
But they do focus on the “need for the city to seek a constructive partnership with UC Davis,” writing, “Sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of campaign season, we lose sight of how critical its is for the city to have a good working relationship with the biggest employer and landowner in town.
“With new Chancellor Gary May in place, we hope that the City Council, whatever its makeup, can move forward with a productive relationship with the university. Davis can only benefit.”
Over the years, earning the Enterprise endorsement has been a mixed bag, but in a race with no polling, signals like newspaper endorsements are an indication of strength. In this case, Dan Carson has two endorsements, with Linda Deos and Gloria Partida having one each. That probably fairly accurately reflects the state of the race as well.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Carson, Beeman, and Deos seem to be leading the sign race. Beeman also ran away with the last poll I did on Nextdoor. While the poll does not represent any particular level of preference I do believe it shows who can turn out supporters to do something on behalf of the candidate. If Ezra can get people to vote for him on nextdoor he may very well be able to get them to the polls.
I’m not sure why anyone supports Linda. She seems to be on both sides of every issue though I suspect she is pulling a lot of support from Gloria as she is so much more articulate and well informed about city issues. Gloria did very well in the first poll but lost a lot of support for the second one.
Beeman is the clear choice of the anti-growth faction.
Gudz polls near zero on nextdoor which is not surprising as there are few students on that platform. It does emphasize his need to get a huge student turnout to be viable.
Useless to do unscientific polls.
Unlike your comment which was thoroughly useful.
Hey maybe we can poll it on Nextdoor and see which comment gets more votes?
Jim
“I’m not sure why anyone supports Linda”
“she is so much more articulate and well informed about city issues”
I think you may have just answered your own implied question.
Carson and Deos are the two most milktoast candidates we have. I guess it makes sense that they would have the endorsement of the Enterprise.
The “other” blog has posted an email (“with permission”), showing that former mayor Joe Krovoza is endorsing Larry and Ezra.
Boom!
That was helpful… wasn’t decided, but now I can cross two off my list… thank you!
That’s exciting… I’ll always remember where I was when Joe Krovoza endorsed Larry and Ezra
Hey – glad to help. Conversely, the Sacramento Bee’s opinion (and the Vanguard’s repetition of it) might also help “guide” some.
Yep… true story…
When I vote, I give ~ 5-10% value to endorsements… depending on the endorser… some endorsers, if I feel I know them real well, I can give a negative 90% value to those they endorse…
I agree. But, perhaps not often in the same direction as you.
Truth be told, no one cares what two semi-anonymous (or even fully named) bloggers think. I was simply pointing out an endorsement that the Vanguard did not report, in an article which discussed endorsements.
Point(s) taken, Ron…