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Election: No 'clear mandate' for closing Sequoia Healthcare district
• Griffin and Kane collect majority votes.

by Sandy Brundage

Jack Hickey didn't get his "clear mandate for dissolution" of the Sequoia Healthcare District, coming in third in the Nov. 6 election behind two fellow incumbents for two open seats on the board of directors.

Fellow incumbents Kim Griffin and Kathleen Kane showed a comfortable lead with 33,459 and 31,346 votes respectively, compared to 24,415 for Mr. Hickey.

He will retain his seat on the board, however, as his term does not expire until 2014. Mr. Hickey said he forced an election to give voters the opportunity to indicate a desire to dissolve the district by giving him a majority vote. However, this won't dampen his long-standing drive to dissolve the district — he has indicated that a last resort may be collecting signatures to get the issue on the ballot.

On Wednesday morning Mr. Hickey told the Almanac that although he was disappointed, his tally had improved from the 2008 election. "I am grateful to those who supported my dissolution effort, and invite them to join me in pursuing that goal."

He attributed union support for his opponents as a major factor, along with the release of a pre-election mailing extolling the virtues of the district.

"I am pursuing (public record act) requests to determine the facts behind these mailings, which, in my opinion, were clearly intended to influence the outcome of the election," Mr. Hickey said. The gathered information will help determine the direction of his future efforts.