Aren't these two supposed to be political enemies? Can't we count on anything anymore?
Six weeks ago McClung and Ferreira barely saw the light of day. For days on end they were hunched over voting records in the San Mateo County elections office. Ferreira, the incumbent, was fighting for his seat on the Half Moon Bay City Council. On election night it appeared he had won with a modest but decisive 59-vote margin over McClung, his nearest competition.
|
|
It didn't end there, as you will remember. Ferreira called for a recount, which is his right under prevailing election law. The resulting re-examination further tightened the issue. McClung's 15-vote victory became an eight-vote squeaker.
We would still be writing about one of the closest political races in Half Moon Bay history, had Ferreira not called an end to the challenge in late December. In the meantime McClung was sworn into office and assumed her seat as part of a supposed majority that would pit fellow election winner Naomi Patridge, new Mayor Marina Fraser and herself against Ferreira allies Jim Grady and David Gorn.
Things seemed to be going according to plan for a while. The three women on council initially supported a plan to re-align the city's Planning Commission but eventually McClung came up with a plan of her own that requires existing planning commissioners to resign but does not dismantle the structure of the body.
Which brings us up to date. Except for the hike.
McClung said last week that she and Ferreira have struck up a friendship, that they had been on a hike together and that she thought she had a lot to learn from her political rival about the environment and the ins and outs of city government.
She said something else. She said that the unlikely bond with Ferreira was forged by their unique relationship: Only they know what it was like to be a candidate in that county election office, facing both jubilant vindication and bitter defeat. They alone knew what it was like to be tugged in opposite directions by sometimes over-zealous supporters.
Oh, and she said she didn't really want me to write about it.
She wasn't hiding anything. She's not embarrassed by embracing her political rival. She just didn't see the need to advertise her weekend walks.
For his part Ferreira says he was charmed by McClung's poise and civility during the long and arduous election process. He adds that he is impressed by her interest in matters municipal and now considers her a real asset to the council.
"We agreed," he says, "the vast majority of the city's business has nothing to do with our political wars."
So true.
There are those in town who, for reasons I'll never understand, are vested in continuing this Hatfield-and-McCoy feud between the so-called "no-growthers," which Ferreira was supposed to represent, and the "old guard," which is supposed to be the natural base for McClung. I'm sure there are supporters of each who think that fraternizing with the enemy is high treason.
To their ever-lasting credit, Ferreira and McClung did not instigate the vitriol that hung in the air during the last election cycle. They both comported themselves admirably throughout the recount process.
Perhaps then, it shouldn't be a surprise that they are showing us that healing old wounds can be as easy as a walk along the coast.
w