Politics & Government

Mayor Announces Re-Election Bid

Elizabeth Patterson: 'I love our city and I love the work.'

In a statement released Wednesday morning, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson announced she is running for a second term. 

“I love our city,” she said, “and I love the work. We have accomplished a lot in these last four years but our work is far from done.” 

Her campaign is co-chaired by Susan Street and Roger Straw. Lifelong Benicia resident Marty Duvall is the campaign events coordinator and also will head  precinct operations. Tony Shannon is developing the campaign web site and Andrew Urban will be in charge of signs.

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"I am fortunate, indeed, to have the talent, skills and dedication of so many people,”  Patterson said in an email Wednesday morning.

, when asked if she was running, Patterson indicated an announcement would come in late May. The announcement was made sooner because she felt there was no point in delaying the decision.

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"The (campaign) committee has been meeting for a while," said Patterson.  "I've finished my six-month listening tour. We'll have a regular big-time kickoff party in May."

Patterson intends to raise and spend $28,000 on her re-election. That's the voluntary expenditure limit in Benicia and she made it clear she would not go over the limit even if an opponent does.

"The public deserves and should get a fair and open election and that would not be fair," said Patterson. "The public doesn't want to feel they are being bought."

She went on to say that voters are tired of having their mailboxes flooded the last weekend of a campaign with campaign literature that is often misleading.

Patterson said she is proud of her accomplishments since being elected mayor in 2007, including her leadership and work to build consensus among her colleagues.  "I worked hard to be inclusive and build consensus," she said. 

"The proof is in the voting record," she added, referring to the many votes on large or controversial issues that were 5-0.

She also said she is proud of the commissions and boards that advise the City Council. "I sought to make the commissions be a cross section of the community and we've achieved that," said Patterson. "We've depoliticized the appointment process.  It's  a full fledged council-supported process."

She beamed as she pointed out that she delivered on her promise of creating Community Sustainability and Arts and Culture commissions.

Patterson cited economic development and an economic development strategy as key goals for the next four years. "We need diversity of the business mix in the city," she said. "We can't always count on one company for 20 percent of our tax revenues."

She said she wants to promote Benicia as a place for green companies to set down roots and bring more jobs to the city as well as "ensuring an A-plus project on the Seeno property."

Patterson isn't speculating on who will run against her. Vice Mayor Alan Schwartzman's name is most often mentioned by City Hall observers.

When asked about a run for mayor after Patterson announced, Schwartzman said, "I'm absolutely seriously considering it."

He said he didn't think the mayor got any advantage by announcing a month earlier than originally planned but indicated he wasn't surprised by her move. "Nothing the mayor does surprises me."


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