After dozens of speakers made impassioned pleas for the City Council to select November 2006 election runner-up Corky Booze, the City Council acted with dispatch to appoint Harpreet Sandhu to fill the position vacated when Gayle McLaughlin was elected mayor. Sandhu was nominated by Councilmember Jim Rogers, and Councilmember Nat Bates then made a substitute motion to appoint Corry Booze. Booze’s campaign ended on a vote of three ayes and five abstentions, with Butt, Bates and McLaughlin supporting Booze.

 

The vote for Sandhu was exactly the reverse, with Butt, Bates and McLaughlin abstaining. With five votes, Harpreet Sandhu became Richmond’s next councilmember.

 

Having been a runner-up myself in 1993 (104 votes short) and having been passed over with the City Council selecting an individual who had not run for election, I guess I have a personal affinity for runner-ups. I have walked in Corky’s shoes. I tend to believe that people who fill a public elected office should have to go through the rigors of a campaign to earn the right, so I have always supported the runner-up when the City Council fill a vacancy.

 

Harpreet Sandhu, who currently serves on the Richmond Human Relations Commission, is highly regarded and has a long history of community service in Richmond. He will make a fine councilmember, and I look forward to working with him.