Jim Namnath elected in Marin County

In my earlier post about yesterday's elections across the country, I failed to mention the really big news: Jim Namnath, of Jim & Toni fame, was elected to the board of trustees of the College of Marin, ousting incumbent Harry Moore. The other three incumbents were re-elected. (Indeed, Jim was the only candidate for any local office to buck the status quo trend.) Congratulations, Jim!

Replacing Moore with Jim, while keeping the other three incumbents in office, was exactly the result endorsed by the Marin Independent Journal last month, in an editorial that gave the following biographical blurb about Jim:

Jim Namnath, 51, of San Rafael, a chemistry consultant who taught chemistry at COM the past two years. He has a Ph.d in chemistry from USC and has taught at Dominican and Diablo Valley College. Five of his children have gone through College of Marin and onto four-year colleges. He is not teaching at COM this fall because he decided to run for the board.

According to the unofficial vote totals, Jim got 19,255 votes to finish fourth out of seven candidates, beating Moore's tally of 17,047 votes. (As an aside, finishing seventh with 4,076 votes was Peter Romanowsky, who, according to the Journal, "views himself as the Ralph Nader of Marin politics" and "is a singing minister who provides entertainment with his dog at the Sausalito Ferry Terminal." Heh.)

It was a nonpartisan election, but even so, Jim and Toni's political views don't exactly fit into the Marin County stereotype, so that makes it all the more impressive that he was able to pull off this victory. That said, I don't think ideology played much of a role in the race. It sounds like the central issue was what to do with the college's Indian Valley campus in Novato, and the sharpest difference on the issue was between Moore (who wanted to beef up IVC) and Jim (who, according to the Journal, has said he "will demand hard evidence that IVC's existence makes sense" and has proposed selling it and building a new campus in a more convenient location). I guess the voters preferred the latter approach.

Anyway, for the sake of maintaining Jim's good relationship with his constituents, I hope the board of trustees won't have any stupid symbolic votes on whether Bush should be impeached or whether we should withdraw from Iraq. :)

But seriously, I say again, congrats, Jim!

Between Casey's friend William Broderick-Villa becoming the mayor of Waterford, and now Jim becoming a Marin trustee, my plan to take over the world, starting with California, through six degrees of separation, is proceeding according to plan... muahahaha...

Comments

[Condor]

I guess winning Super Bowl III just wasn't enough.

[Joe SBIII]

Ever since Suzy Kolber turned me down, and after rehab, I've had to take any job I can get!

[Wobbly H]

Good one Joe!! One of the funniest TV moments of all time.