Mutual Aid Leader Gets No Votes in Ward 3 Replacement Process Despite Wide Support
The above list does not include the name of Lily Baran, even though she got overwhelming support compared to all other candidates if endorsements on social media, in public comment, on Zoom and in voice mails were tabulated.
Before the voting took place, Mayor Hillary Schieve made her now usual speech, a repeat from previous replacement selection procedures, of thanking the candidates effusively, and saying how difficult it was to decide between them. When she mentioned Baran by name, we knew that meant trouble for the urban gardener’s campaign. When she mentioned Baran again, we had an unsettling but near certain feeling votes would be going to other candidates.
Council decided to go with the top four of their tabulated votes for the next part of the process. Remarkably, Baran wasn’t even on the above slide with no votes at all. Schieve voted for another progressive, previous mayoral candidate William Mantle, but he received no other votes.
Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus was on vacation, but she certainly wouldn’t have voted for Mantle, given the legal tussle over her mayoral race eligibility which he just waged. Whether Brekhus would have voted for Baran or not wouldn’t have made a difference, since getting one vote was just good enough for a tie for ninth.
A “Spanish-speaking attorney” Kyle Edgerton, TMCC coordinator Miguel Martinez, Democratic political operative Courtney McKimmey, and Head of Spiritual Care at Renown Sean Savoy got the nods to move on. Reese indicated he wanted only two candidates to proceed onward, and underlined the large Hispanic population in ward 3, which would perhaps indicate this will end up being a contest between Edgerton and Martinez. Decision time will be two weeks from now, on October 26th.
Who knows who will win at this point, but it’s certain many in the community are even more disillusioned than before. One commenter on our Twitter feed wrote: “I’m actually surprised but then again, not really.”
Our Reporting Highlights This Week
We featured a judicial candidate Kendra Bertschy liking her chances after finishing first in the primary for Reno Justice Court, Department 2, despite the third place finisher backing her opponent, Bruce Hahn, who is also being endorsed in far-right flyers and text messages. We had both an article and podcast episode with Bertschy on her motivations to give back, after losing her brother.
Our #keeprenogreen series featured efforts to get local businesses and restaurants to adopt greener practices, and social media content on a subsidized tree program underwritten by councilwoman Naomi Duerr.