Palo Alto voters elected Bryna Chang, a planning commission member and strong advocate for better traffic management in neighborhoods, to City Council. She was in first in early results yesterday, followed by incumbents Ed Lauing and Vicki Veenker.
According to returns posted Wednesday morning:
Bryna Chang …….. 8,010 23.78%
Vicki Veenker ……. 7,424 22.04%
Ed Lauing …………. 7,396 21.96%
Yu “Yudy” Deng …. 4,605 13.67%
Brian Hamachek …. 2,328 6.91%
Raymond Goins …… 1,778 5.28%
Gary Gechlik ……….. 1,182 3.51%
Henry Etzkowitz …… 949 2.82%
Deng appears to have lost even though she raised more money than any other candidate in history — $182,131. Much of the money came from donors out of town. She said the funding wasn’t suspicious, but on social media, people raised questions about the source of those funds.
Deng has been criticized by her opponent Bryna Chang for taking 102 of 157 donations from outside of Palo Alto.
“If outsıde money can simply buy a local election, it changes the future of how Palo Alto is governed. Council members should answer to the residents they represent, not the interests who finance them,” Chang said in a campaign email prior to Tuesday’s vote.
At a campaign event for Deng, Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga said it’s racist to criticize Deng for raising money outside of Palo Alto.
Abe-Koga said she experienced similar criticism when she ran for Mountain View City Council.
“It just really bothers me when I hear things like that because I feel — and I felt it myself personally when I ran — there’s a little tinge of racism, discrimination there, and that’s not acceptable,” Abe-Koga said in a video posted on Deng’s social media.
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