Published: Tuesday, October 31, 2000

Kniss, Sandoval in final push
Both aim to replace Simitian on the county board

by Don Kazak

Get the oxygen ready for Liz Kniss and Dolly Sandoval come Election Day. That's how hard they've been running in their race to succeed Joe Simitian as a Santa Clara County supervisor.

Liz Kniss Age: 61 Occupation: Marketing manager, Sun Microsystems Political office: Mayor, Palo Alto Residence: Palo Alto Issues: Supports Measure A (transportation). "The county can work with the cities to influence them to produce more housing (housing)." Made the motion that the Palo Alto City Council prefers permanent open space for the Stanford foothills (Stanford open space). Dolly Sandoval Age: 39 Occupation: Math teacher, Los Gatos High School Political office: Trustee, Foothill-DeAnza Community College District Residence: Cupertino Issues: Supports Measure A (transportation). "I agreed I would actively explore whether surplus county parcels are appropriate for housing (housing)." "I support permanent open space west of Junipero Serra Boulevard (Stanford open space)."

"It's a fast and furious pace, with coffees and community events," Sandoval said.

"I am so booked there is little time to breathe at this point," Kniss said.

Indeed, if you see one at a community event, the other one may be there, too, at least in Palo Alto.

Kniss made a presentation at the YWCA's "Building Bridges" event in Palo Alto Oct. 7, and Sandoval was in the audience. And when the Palo Alto Women's Club held its regular luncheon recently, Kniss was there as a member and Sandoval was there as a guest.

"My friends have noticed that," Kniss said. Is Kniss shadowing Sandoval in her appearances, too? "I don't even know her calendar," Kniss said.

Kniss may be a longtime City Council and school board member here-- someone who has won four elections in Palo Alto-- but Sandoval, who lives in Cupertino and is a member of the Foothill-DeAnza Community College board, isn't ceding the Palo Alto vote to Kniss by any means.

"We have a lot of grassroots support in Palo Alto," Sandoval said. "The mayor got only 54 percent of the Palo Alto vote in the primary, while Simitian got 76 percent in the primary four years ago. I sensed there were votes to be had, so I went after them."

There are shades of differences between the two on issues, but nothing especially significant. Both candidates, as a result, point to their experience, where there are differences, as a reason why each would be the better county supervisor.

In the three-way primary in March, Kniss outpolled Sandoval 42.5 percent to 33.9 percent. The third candidate, Santa Clara County Planning Commission member Terry Trumbull, received 23.6 percent.

Four years ago, though, Simitian finished second in the primary but went on to easily win the general election, a historical pattern Sandoval hopes will be repeated.

On the face of it, Kniss could benefit from Trumbull's loss because he is from Palo Alto, too. But Trumbull had the strongest environmental backing in the primary, and much of the green support has shifted to Sandoval, who also has labor and ethnic backing.

Kniss, meanwhile, has strong Silicon Valley corporate support (she works for Sun Microsystems in her day job), and is also endorsed by Simitian, a former Palo Alto mayor, City Council member and school board member.

Sandoval, on the other hand, has been endorsed by three of the four other Santa Clara County supervisors. Sandoval works as a teacher in Los Gatos.

Delaine Eastin, the state superintendent of public instruction, has endorsed both candidates.

Simitian, who is running for state Assembly, has had much of his supervisorial time consumed this year by the Stanford land-use planning process, a process both Sandoval and Kniss have closely watched, and which Kniss has acted on in her role as Palo Alto mayor.

It's the big story of the year in the 5th supervisorial district, which includes Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford University, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, a piece of Sunnyvale and even a slice of San Jose.

"The farther south you go, the less interest there is in Stanford," Kniss said. "But there is a great interest in holding the line (against development) in the hills."

Kniss was referring to the battle to keep limit Stanford's ability to develop its foothills, something both Kniss and Sandoval back, but in different ways.

Sandoval supports permanent protection of the Stanford foothills as open space, something that Kniss and the Palo Alto City Council now also advocate.

Both are advocates of building additional affordable housing and both support Measure A, the BART to San Jose transit measure, on the November ballot, although both preferred the alternative plan backed earlier by Simitian which failed to win the support of the Board of Supervisors.

"Traffic gridlock is so big and so bad that we have to start somewhere," Sandoval said.

"I certainly think the (Measure A) plan is flawed," Kniss said, "but it is important that we start on it."

"It's not the perfect plan," Sandoval agreed.

When looking at differences between the two, Kniss stresses her experience as a City Council member. "When I am talking about a track record, I am talking about results," Kniss said.

For two examples, Kniss said that 1,500 units of affordable housing have been built in Palo Alto since she's been on the council, and, as Palo Alto's representative on the former county Transportation Commission, she cast a critical vote to help bring light rail to Mountain View instead of Sunnyvale.

But, to listen to Sandoval, Kniss's experience could work against her, too. Referring to the then-unsolved third middle school and Jewish Community Center issues, Sandoval said, "Some people (in Palo Alto) are frustrated with a lack of leadership on the council and by the mayor. There is discontent here." Since Sandoval's made the comment, both the JCC and middle school site issues are seemingly solved, now.

Both candidates have Web sites: www.kniss.com and www.dollysandoval.com.