Politics & Government

Greene and Lopin Win San Anselmo Council Election

Voters re-elect mayor and elect newcomer businesswoman.

Read at bottom for updates from election night.

While all three San Anselmo council candidates agreed on a number of issues – namely the need to address the economic problems in town – voters saw a difference and elected current Mayor Ford Greene and businesswoman Lori Lopin.

Lopin topped the votes with 38% of the vote and Greene followed with 37.7%. Small businessowner Doug Kelly captured just 24.2% of the vote.

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"Doing my best for the town of San Anselmo was good enough for the voters," said Greene, who was elected to his second term.

He was joined by newcomer Lopin, as councilwoman Barbara Thornton stepped down.

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Greene, a lawyer who has been an outspoken figure on the council, resonated with voters because of his focus on the budget and practical solutions to local problems. Last year, he opposed allowing large homes in town and is best known for battling the controversial Ross Valley flood fee.

Throughout his campaign, Greene discussed the tough choices that the town may need to make, with a number of employee groups making pension and salary concessions in the past few years.

When the council also discussed a possible half-cent sales tax, Greene initially supported putting the tax on the ballot, but later withdrew his support, saying instead that he would support a special tax specifically ear-marked for infrastructure needs.

He said he has no plans to do anything different now that he was elected again, but hopes to address two main issues: making planning and building ordinances and regulations easier to understand by the average person, and pushing for openness and responsiveness from councilmembers, who, he said, "need to be held to a higher standard than anybody else."

Though Lopin has served as a number of councilmember’s emergency alternate and served on the school district board in the past, will serve her first term on the San Anselmo council.

The CFO for local business Graphic Source said during the campaign that she was running for council to preserve San Anselmo's small town feel.

"I am honored that the voters of San Anselmo selected me to represent them for the next four years," Lopin said by email.

The biggest issue facing the town, Lopin has said, are financial: town budget constraints and encouraging local businesses. Voter agreed that her experience as a CFO and serving on the Measure G Monitoring Committee would help her steer the town through it's financial troubles.

"I hope I can live up to everyone's expectations and will do my best. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work," she said.

What do you want the newly-elected councilmembers to tackle first?

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Below are updates from election night:

Welcome to San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch’s Election Night update for the San Anselmo Council race.

It’s an exciting night for the candidates and their supporters, who have logged many hours on the campaign trail for the past few months. Congratulations to all the candidates — Ford Greene, Lori Lopin and Doug Kelly — for working so hard to state their platforms and for their willingness to serve in a mostly thankless capacity on our behalf.

This story will be updated and saved regularly until all precincts are reported by the Marin County registrar’s office. We’ll check in with the candidates to hear how they’re feeling about everything, and try to upload photos from campaign parties around town as they are sent in. Anybody with a camera at one of those get-togethers can send shots to kellyd@patch.com or upload them directly to this story.

Check our for automatically updated results on all Marin races as soon as they come in to the registrar's office.

UPDATES

10:18 p.m.

With over 80% of the precincts reporting, initial returns continue to hold. Lopin and Greene appear to be San Anselmo's new (and returning) council members with 37.96% and 37.68% respectively.

Kelly trails with 24.19% of the vote.

Reactions from the candidates coming.

9:25 p.m.

With 66% of the precincts reporting, it appears Lopin and Greene are pulling ahead. Lopin has 38% of the vote and the current Mayor has gotten 37.6%, while business owner Doug Kelly is trailing with only 24.19%.

Two more precincts are left to report, but Kelly needs 655 votes to catch up to Greene.

8:35 p.m.

First results came in just after 8 p.m. with only mail-in votes counted and no precincts reporting.

Currently, Lori Lopin is leading the early returns with 38.01% of the votes and incumbent Ford Greene follows with 36.91%. Doug Kelly is in third with 24.9% of the reported votes.

The three candidates for two seats are all watching the returns at various homes and restaurants around San Anselmo tonight. Check back throughout the night for more updated results and reactions as the races are closed.

What do you think of the results so far?


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