Large pool of candidates possible for council race Large pool of candidates possible for council race (July 20, 2005)

The race for Palo Alto City Council is shaping up to have a large pool of candidates. As of Monday, the first day to pull nomination papers, more than a dozen people were in the race or seriously considering a run.

By the Weekly's press deadline on Tuesday morning, six potential candidates had already taken out papers from City Hall to run:

* John Barton, a school board member;

* Pat Burt, a planning commissioner who said he was still undecided about running;

* Victor Frost, a homeless advocate;

* Karen Holman, a planning commissioner;

* Harold "Skip" Justman, a real estate lawyer who placed fifth in a race for four spots two years ago;

* Larry Klein, a former mayor; and

* Jack Morton, an incumbent, who was the first to return the completed paperwork.

Three other candidates have also announced they are running, but had yet to pull papers:

* Sanford Forte, a member of the Library Advisory Commission;

* Yoriko Kishimoto, an incumbent; and

* Danielle Martell, who writes educational software.

Candidates have until at least Aug. 12 to return the paperwork, which includes gathering at least 25 signatures of registered voters and writing a candidate statement. That deadline will likely get extended a week since Mayor Jim Burch is not running for re-election.

There are five open seats on the nine-member council. Councilman Vic Ojakian cannot run again due to term limits.

At least three other potential candidates have not decided if they're running:

* Norman Carroll, an "un-housed" advocate,

* Hillary Freeman, an incumbent who is using her Web page to gather feedback; and

* Doug Moran, president of the Barron Park Association.

-- Bill D'Agostino

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