San Antonio voters select newcomer, 2 incumbents

By CHASE SQUIRES

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 12, 2000

SAN ANTONIO -- With three City Commission seats on the line, voters returned two incumbents to office Tuesday and brought on one newcomer to a commission that has seen big turnover in the past year.

Mayor Roy Pierce was returned to the commission with the most votes in the four-candidate race. Pierce took 139 of the votes cast, about 31 percent of the 183-vote total.

Pierce, 50, said he is looking forward to continuing on his path of fiscal conservatism on the five-member board he has served on since 1993.

Pierce, a retired Tampa police detective who runs his own investigative service, said he was especially proud of the fact that San Antonio topped the county with a 35 percent voter turnout in Tuesday's municipal elections.

"I would have been even more proud if we had an 80 percent turnout," he said.

Fellow incumbent Heiskell Christmas, appointed to the board in February to replace Olaf Jonasson when he moved out of state, won re-election with 122 votes, about 27 percent of the total.

Christmas, a 37-year-old database administrator, was defeated in a 1997 run for City Commission, but said he worked harder this time, walking the streets and making an effort to meet as many voters as he could and campaigning up to the last minute outside City Hall.

He celebrated his first win with grilled cheese sandwiches with his family at home.

Political newcomer Wendi Edwards, 32, took the final seat with 117 votes, about 26 percent of the total.

Edwards, a schoolteacher and former Pasco County sheriff's deputy, was out of the country on vacation Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

Another newcomer, Mark Pearson, 37, came in fourth with 70 votes, just under 16 percent. Pearson, an audiovisual presentations producer, said he was not disappointed with his showing and said he would consider staying active with city politics.

San Antonio has seen almost a full turnover of the commission since last year, after former Commissioner Lori Hillman opted not to run again and was replaced by Sharon Madden.

In November, Joann Hawkins died and the commission appointed Dennis Phillips. Then Jonasson announced in January that he was moving out of state, and Commissioner Nick Ramirez announced he was not running again, leaving one seat vacant.

Pierce said he expects members of the new commission to work well together, although it will take time for everyone to get up to speed on the issues.

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