By Eliza Ridgeway

Los Altos Hills residents re-elected Dean Warshawsky (2,031, 36.9 percent) and Breene Kerr (1,833, 33.3 percent) to four-year terms on the city council. Challenger John Vidovich (1,640, 29.8 percent) finished third, 391 and 193 votes behind Warshawsky and Kerr, respectively, as of this week.

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters will declare final election results Dec. 5 after the remaining absentee and provisional ballots are counted.

Turnout was high for Los Altos Hills, which had 5,578 voters registered for this election. Each resident could cast votes for two candidates, but many chose to vote for one candidate only. This came as little surprise, as Warshawsky and Kerr had run complementary campaigns and were politically distinct from challenger Vidovich, particularly on the issue of pursuing a separate school district for the town.

“To me, it was kind of a referendum on redistricting and redistricting won, although not by a large margin,” said Councilman Mike O’Malley. He said that compared to the two previous elections, this one had been less rough in terms of negative campaigning.

“It was a campaign that got a little personal at times,” Kerr said, referring to letters written by former Councilman Steve Finn, which accused Kerr of conflict of interest. Kerr said he would ask the council to evaluate measures the city of Santa Clara took to set strict expenditure limits and reduce negative ads after it gained a reputation for nasty campaigns.

“I hope that in 2008 we try to attack the issues, not the people,” Warshawsky said. “Fortunately, I’m not going to be running in the next one. The electorate of the town has spoken and they appreciate the work that I have done over the last four years,”

During his next term, Warshawsky said he is particularly enthused about focusing on improving the town’s infrastructure.

“We got involved in the school (redistricting) because it was the right thing to do, but at the same time, I’m very happy we passed that to the county,” he said. “We need to focus now on more important tasks at hand. Let’s get back to the basics.”

“I’m glad I ran, because I was able to communicate to a tremendous number of people,” Vidovich said. “I believe that my showing is evidence that … based on the election, the council can’t be so sure that they represent the vast majority. I’m hoping I helped the schools and helped the council rethink their stand on property rights.”

He said he didn’t know if he would run again in two years. In 2008 the council seats of Craig Jones, Jean Mordo and Mike O’Malley will be vacated. O’Malley cannot run again because of the Los Altos Hills two-term limit.