The Visalia council will likely be more conservative than the one preceding it, lame-duck Council Member Don Landers said after this week's election.
Landers, who didn't seek re-election, knows the players. "There will be at least two, and maybe three, conservative voices on the council," he said.
Landers said he often expressed conservative positions, but of late he's been the lone "no" on 4-1 votes.
Mike Lane and Warren Gubler hold solid leads for two of the three seats.
The question is: Who will get the third seat -- conservative businessman Steve Nelsen or incumbent Greg Collins, whose challenges to some new neighborhoods made him the bête noire of most developers?
Nelsen is ahead by 131 votes, but Landers said Collins could eke out a victory when the absentee ballots are tallied.
"It's too close to call," Landers said.
New vote totals come out today. If Nelsen prevails, the three newcomers would replace Landers, Collins and Jesus Gamboa. For council watchers, this would be a big change.
GAMBOA REFLECTS: Gamboa lost and came in fifth, but he was all smiles as he picked up campaign signs Wednesday. After 12 years in office, including the last four years as mayor, he's ready to move on.
"People have given me a thousand reasons" for the loss, Gamboa said.
Politicians "accumulate issues," he said. The city's new flood map, in which thousands of startled homeowners found out they must buy expensive flood insurance, was one.
Some folks complained about disruption of the Mooney Boulevard widening project.
City budget cuts and furloughs, including police and fire, upset others.
"The interest groups got involved," Gamboa said, meaning the Visalia Firefighters Association, which campaigned for his opponents. But "they did a good job," he said. "They worked hard."
JUSTICE SERVED: Two thieves who stole the brass historical marker in front of the "election tree" in Tulare County were sentenced to state prison Thursday.
The election tree is where the pioneers established the first county government.
The two men cut up the plaque and sold it for scrap for $120. Judge Gary Paden sentenced one to 28 months in prison, the other to two years.
CODE TALKER: Navajo code talker Joe Morris Sr. will be at the Tulare County Library in Visalia at 7 p.m. today for a free program about the legendary code talkers of World War II. The military recruited Navajo to operate radios and outwit the enemy, which never cracked their code. He's one of the few left.
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