Calistoga cancels municipal election after 3 city seats go uncontested

By John Ramos

The city of Calistoga canceled its November municipal election after all three open seats drew only a single candidate.

With a population just north of 5,000, Calistoga enjoys a simpler style of life far away from the political conflicts you may find in the bigger cities. In Calistoga, politics isn’t really a contest at all.  

Kevin Eisenberg signed up to run for mayor.

“Yes, vote for, well, I can’t say vote for me,” he said. “It’s a little bit different.”

Eisenberg currently serves on the city council and for his mayoral campaign, he had a written platform all prepared and had taped over his old council campaign signs and written the word “MAYOR” as a way to save money.

“It’s part of showing my fiscal responsibility,” he said, with a laugh. “It was an easy thing to do. If I was to do more, I’d probably improve my handwriting a little bit.”

But it turns out that won’t be necessary because no one signed up to run against him.  

For the three positions open in city government, only three people filed to run at all.  

So, the council canceled the entire city election for November, which is allowed under state law when all races are uncontested.  As a result, Eisenberg was proclaimed to be mayor without having to give a speech.

“I believe that people looked at who was running, they looked at my candidacy and said, ‘That’s OK. I don’t need to do anything,'” he said. “We wanted more people. It makes it a better election, but I’m treating it as if I’m still campaigning. Because I think I will do a better job, the more people know about me and know what I believe in.”

He’s pretty well known already as he’s an active Rotarian and has been serving as principal of the local elementary school for 13 years and of Calistoga High School for eight years. On Sunday, a current group of high school students was manning a bake sale table outside the town’s grocery store.

“I mean, I’ve seen the people that are in, what’s it called, the council.  And they’re usually on the older side. So, maybe it’s just the newer generation doesn’t care as much in this town?  That could be a possibility,” said Calistoga High senior Oliver Vera. “If I’d known that maybe I could have been the mayor. Who knows?”

But is it a good thing for democracy to have so few people interested in running for office? Resident Jackie Osborn thought there was a darker reason than just apathy. She said the downturn of the wine industry has hit the town’s economy so hard that people have begun to lose hope.

“Nobody, nobody’s going to extend any extra effort because they’re too busy trying to save their businesses,” she said, shaking her head. “So, it’s tough. It’s really tough.”

Alex Dierkhising, who owns the Hydro Grill restaurant, echoed that feeling.

“Government’s got kind of a bad rep, you know?” he said. “I think, for me, I would say people just don’t have the time and/or the interest in it.”

He said that’s sad, but guesses it’s also a reflection of the cynicism being displayed on the national stage. Eisenberg also wishes more people would get involved, but he said he’s going to do his best to serve the people, even if they never had a chance to vote for him.

“Everyone had the opportunity to participate,” he said.  “That’s democracy.”