Good news, bad news/winners and losers

Rotary raises money for these scholarships from its members. In San Mateo, that includes 150 business, professional and community leaders. Not only do the Rotarians fund the scholarships but they spend hours interviewing students to determine who most needs and can best use the funds.

Over the last 25 years, San Mateo Rotary has awarded nearly $2 million in scholarships for needy, talented San Mateo students.

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The good news from last week’s primary election is that voters are not stupid when it comes to ballot measures. Despite the onslaught of deceiving and expensive television and radio ads by PG&E and Mercury Insurance (Propositions 16 and 17) to increase their own profits, voters said "NO.” The bad news is that there is no truth in advertising when it comes to initiative campaigns.

The good news is that county residents continue to show their support of education, by approving parcel taxes for the community college district and the coast’s Cabrillo Unified School District. The bad news is that despite these measures, public education in California will continue to suffer from severe funding shortages.

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Winners and losers: Overall, women were the big winners in primaries across the country and here in California. Arkansas senator Blanche Lincoln won her primary against a supposedly more progressive challenger who received money from out-of-state unions. In South Carolina, a conservative Republican woman, Nikki Haley, supported by the tea party, beat her male opponents in the race to be the next governor. Here in California, two Republican women, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, won contested primaries against male candidates for the governorship and for the U.S. Senate. On the Democratic ticket, Kamala Harris defeated male opponents for state attorney general. And locally, Sandie Arnott placed an unexpected first place in the race for tax collector/treasurer, receiving more votes than her three male opponents. She did not win by more than 50 percent so she will face Dave Mandelkern in the fall. April Vargas, the only woman in the race for county supervisor, came in second to former sheriff Don Horsley and will have the chance to try again in November.

This sounds like a big victory for Emily’s List, the national group which funds women candidates. However, many of these women, especially on the Republican side, are not in sync with Emily List principles. If Meg Whitman becomes the next governor of California and Carly beats Barbara Boxer, some feminist groups may be reminded of the old political saying: "Be careful what you wish for.”

Losers include Joe Galligan, former Burlingame mayor, who was expected to be the top vote-getter for tax collector/treasurer and came in third; Matt Grocott, San Carlos councilman, who like Joe enjoyed several newspaper endorsements, came in fourth in the supervisor’s race behind Jack Hickey; Josh Becker, who spent a lot of his own money in the supervisor's race but lost to Rich Gordon. Also on the list of losers is Steve Poizner, an impressive candidate for governor, who lost his integrity as he moved to the right as an out-of-control ultra conservative. Meg Whitman was worse but she had more money to spend in her vicious attack ads. In contrast, Tom Campbell, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, lost his race but kept his integrity. Which makes him a winner. Perhaps voters and our democratic system are the losers when candidates feel they must lie to get elected and spend their personal fortunes to do so.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.