WHILE LONGTERM Monterey County 5th District Supervisor Dave Potter celebrated his reelection this week, challenger Marc Del Piero refused to concede, pointing to thousands of uncounted absentee and provisional ballots.

Potter received 15,200 votes to Del Piero’s 12,786, according to preliminary results from the Monterey County Elections office, giving Potter a healthy lead over his challenger.

Despite the early numbers that heavily favor Potter, Del Piero was defiant during a brief interview with the Pine Cone, saying tens of thousands of votes have yet to be counted.

“I know there are 26,000 vote-by-mail ballots that haven’t been counted, probably another 7,000 envelopes that were dropped off at the precincts that haven’t been counted, and potentially 7,000 provisional ballots,” Del Piero said Wednesday. “I don’t have any comments on anything at this point.”

The county elections office has 28 days to certify the election, including counting absentee and other ballots.

Meanwhile, Potter, who has been supervisor for 16 years, said he didn’t think the uncounted votes would help Del Piero close the gap.

“I don’t think it’s possible to recoup that,” Potter said.

The race for the supervisor’s seat was costly, with the candidates raising a total of about $600,000. Most of Del Piero’s money came from the North Salinas Valley Fund for Responsible Growth — a slow-growth group that gave him a total of $132,500.

Potter Wednesday took aim at the group, which is made up of LandWatch Monterey County activists and others, whose board members mostly do not live on the Monterey Peninsula.
“This was a blatant attempt to buy that seat,” Potter said. “I found it appalling and was relieved that it did not succeed.”

The tax-exempt organization got into county politics after receiving a $600,000 settlement in 2008 from a legal fight it waged with Monterey County over permits for Butterfly Village, the proposed residential development north of Salinas.

Besides the North Salinas Valley group, Del Piero had other unlikely supporters including the local Green Party and other left-leaning activists who don’t often side with Republicans like Del Piero.
Del Piero ran a campaign promising transparency, accountability and “honest government,” but did not offer evidence to show Potter or the other supervisors had been dishonest or untransparent.

Both men ran costly TV spots, but each took completely different approaches.

While Potter’s ad portrayed him as down to earth and relaxed, with testimonials from his supporters, Del Piero’s ad, in contrast, was matter-of-fact.

In a rare endorsement for a political candidate, The Pine Cone offered its support to Potter in last week’s edition, a move the supervisor said was helpful to his campaign.

Potter also poked fun at the Monterey County Herald, which endorsed Del Piero. “Obviously, it goes to show the Herald’s editorial board doesn’t know what the heck they are talking about,” he said.