In Rohnert Park, a city council race that was over before it began

What does it say about Sonoma County’s third-largest city when for the second election cycle in a row nobody stepped forward to challenge three incumbents on the Rohnert Park City Council?

Is it a sign residents are happy with the direction the Friendly City is going? Or does it reflect a troubling lack of civic engagement and apathy?

The three incumbents in question - Mayor Gina Belforte, Joe Callinan and Jake Mackenzie - believe it’s the former.

“When people say they think we’re doing a good job, to a certain extent, I think that’s true,” Belforte said this week.

Over the years, Rohnert Park has been a hotbed of political activism fueling divisive and expensive campaigns for city offices.

In 2004, two council members survived a bitter recall election spurred by their support for a revenue-sharing pact with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria’s planned casino on the edge of town. That same year, eight candidates vied for seats on the City Council.

More recently, six candidates in 2010 vied for two open seats in a campaign littered with attack ads, including one that likened candidate Carl Leivo - a former Rohnert Park city manager - to Karl Rove, the polarizing Republican political figure.

The 2012 election, however, signaled an unprecedented era of calm within city government. That year, the same three incumbents were re-elected without facing any challengers, the first time in city history that a council member was re-elected without a contested election.

The 2014 contest featured only one candidate in what was a losing bid to unseat incumbents Pam Stafford and Amy Ahanotu.

Some observers attribute the relative lack of political drama to the fact the city isn’t facing any hot-button controversies like those that stirred passions in the past.

The city’s general plan and urban growth boundaries, fought over more than a decade ago, are set through 2020. The casino is up and running, and a proposed expansion of a Wal-Mart on the city’s west side is still being challenged by opponents in court, although city officials say there is nothing preventing the giant retailer from moving forward with the 35,000 square-foot increase to the existing Redwood Drive building.

“You get campaigns when people are upset about a particular person or issue,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma-based political consultant. “In the last four years, there hasn’t been much controversy in Rohnert Park.”

He said that would make it a daunting challenge for someone to unseat a sitting member of the council, who at the very least enjoys name recognition.

“I think most people who may be thinking about running may be thinking, ‘It would be better if I kept my powder dry,’” Sobel said.

Belforte, a Stanley Steemer franchisee, said she first ran in 2008 out of concern the city was headed for bankruptcy. For Mackenzie, who was first elected in 1996, it was concerns about the city’s growth.

Mackenzie said he feels the current City Council has done a commendable job of working through thorny issues and that it has earned the city’s trust.

“We weathered the fiscal storms, we are implementing the general plan, we’ve hired public safety officers and we are getting back up to strength,” he said. “My conclusion is, when people have inquired about running for City Council, what do they have to run against?”

Darrin Jenkins, who is about to become the city’s third-longest tenured city manager after serving three years in office, noted recent community surveys in which 62 percent of respondents said the city was heading in the right direction.

“Trust me, if people were not satisfied with the response they are getting in Rohnert Park, there would be people running for city council,” Jenkins said.

Rohnert Park’s budget of $34.9 million last fiscal year was the third balanced budget in a row. In 2014, the city signed three-year contracts with employees, including those who work in public safety.

One upside to not having a contested City Council race is the city is saving $50,000 by not holding a November election.

Still, some worry the lack of candidates and campaigns is not healthy for the body politic. Sobel said even if such contests don’t produce change, the debate can be good.

“You might say it’s apathy, or that people are not at the point where they are upset enough to challenge the status quo,” he said.

Rick Luttmann, a retired Sonoma State University professor and Rohnert Park resident who fought against the Wal-Mart expansion, faulted the current council for kowtowing to business interests and not tackling issues of racial and social justice.

“It’s not a very imaginative council, frankly, when you look at what other councils do in the county,” he said. “For example, Sebastopol, Petaluma and Sonoma (County) have living wage ordinances. That wouldn’t even be considered in Rohnert Park.”

So if he feels that way, why doesn’t Luttmann, 76, throw his hat in the ring? Among other reasons, he cited his age and the distasteful task of trying to convince people he was worth their vote.

“To be honest, there’s an awful lot of what they do at the City Council that’s pretty boring,” he said.

That may be reflected in the number of empty seats at most Rohnert Park city council meetings. Even Mackenzie, whose political stamina is rarely matched in Sonoma County government, conceded that “in general, you could say Rohnert Park is not a hotbed of political activism.”

But Belforte said behind the scenes, the number of emails and phone calls she fields on any given day testify to the citizenry’s passions.

“I don’t think Rohnert Park has voter apathy,” the mayor said. “We could get a good turnout, people get involved, signs go up. People are talking about issues and what’s going on.”