Calabasas incumbents make it a clean sweep

Unlike four years ago when two incumbents were voted out of office in the biggest turnover in Calabasas City Council history, Tuesday's city election saw James Bozajian, Mary Sue Maurer and Jonathon Wolfson earn a strong vote of confidence from the residents and permission to return to office for four more years.

With few issues on which to attack the incumbents, challengers Bob Sibilia and Dale Reicheneder trailed in the vote count from start to finish.

Bozajian, who won his fourth election since joining the City Council in 1997, led all candidates with 1,865 votes, or 30 percent of the total.

Maurer received 1,602 votes, or 26 percent. Wolfson got 1,395 (22.5 percent).

Maurer and Wolfson joined the council in 2005 by defeating incumbents Michael Harrison and Lesley Devine in a heated race marked by charges and countercharges. Voters were up in arms.

This year, voters approved of sthe incumbents and their ability to keep Calabasas finances on solid ground despite the recession.

James Bozajian

"At a time when the condition of the national and state economies weigh heavily on people's minds, the top priority for the new City Council will be to ensure that the city's financial resources remain secure," Bozajian said in a statement.

The advent of a new Calabasas general plan outlining smart but limited growth defused the challengers' attempt to attack the incumbents on grounds overdeveloping the city. Supportive voters also basked in the glow of a new $40-million civic center and library that opened last year.

Sibilia, a former mayor and council member from 1997-2001, came within 100 votes of edging Wolfson for a set in '05, but fell short this year by more than 450 votes. It was Sibilia's third loss in four tries at the City Council. Sibilia finished with 16 percent and Dale Reicheneder, who also lost a 2007 bid for the council, received 6 percent.

The winners will be sworn in at a City Council reorganization meeting March 25.

Mary Sue Maurer

Only 18 percent of the city's 13,602 registered voters went to the polls or voted by mail. Absentee, now called votebymail, accounted for half the ballots.

Asked to go to the polls for the fourth time in 13 months—there were three state and national elections last year—the fatigued voters responded by dishing out one of lowest turnouts in the city's 18year history. Soon they'll be back at the polls. In May they vote on the state budget plan.

Jonathon Wolfson