City Elections Issues
Candidates Tailor Race To Students

The four candidates running in two Berkeley City Council districts heavily populated by students are doing all they can to appeal to students—from hosting parties to courting campus groups and entering online social networks.

In one race, incumbent Kriss Worthington and challenger George Beier are vying for different segments of the student vote. In the other, UC Berkeley student challenger Jason Overman is hoping enough students hit the polls to help him unseat incumbent Gordon Wozniak.

In District 7, which includes Units 1, 2 and 3, Southside apartments and a number of cooperative residences, Beier is targeting younger students who live in dormitories. Worthington is largely counting on older students who live in non-university housing.

“I’ll go to any campus event I’m invited to,” Worthington said.

Beier has hosted several off-campus events for students, including a party at Blake’s on Telegraph and a free movie showing at the Elmwood Theater. Worthington campaign staff said they have mostly relied on word of mouth.

Beier also allowed members of the ASUC party Student Action to use his second home in Sonoma County for a summer retreat, though he denies it was an attempt to curry favor. Eight Student Action officials, including President Oren Gabriel, have endorsed Beier.

Some students said Worthington’s incumbency and advocacy for students as a council member for 10 years could earn him favor at the polls.

“I’d say a good percentage of the seniors know who he is,” said UC Berkeley senior Eric Lopez. “I’d say the average freshman probably not so much, but a lot of freshmen probably won’t vote in a City Council race.”

Others said it is difficult to engage many students in city politics.

“A lot of Berkeley students don’t care about what happens in district elections,” said UC Berkeley sophomore Seyron Foo, president of the Asian Political Association.

In District 8, which spans from the Foothill to Clark Kerr dormitories and includes most campus fraternities and sororities in between, Wozniak is expected to win comfortably among long-term residents. That could offset losing the student vote to Overman, who is the favorite among most student groups.

In 2002, Wozniak won the district but lost the student vote to then-UC Berkeley undergraduate Andy Katz.

“I experienced very polarized voting trends and I expect Jason will experience some of that as well,” Katz said.

Wozniak and Beier, who share a campaign office, have used technology to increase student familiarity with their campaigns by maintaining profiles and advertisements on Web sites popular with students, but some say the use of social networking Web sites are not enough to win them the election.

“All I see is a lot of glitz and not the substance,” said UC Berkeley senior and District 7 resident Cyrus Hung.

Some students involved in city issues say raising awareness can be difficult but are hopeful about turnout because campaigns have been more focused on students than in the past.

“It’s always a challenge to get students engaged in local politics, but we have a lot of good things going for us this year,” said UC Berkeley senior Igor Tregub, a Worthington supporter and member of the city’s labor commission.

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