Ronstadt, Dunbar to strengthen City Council's conservative coalition

With nearly all precincts reporting, two Republicans appear to have captured seats on the Tucson City Council in yesterday's election, in a vote that will cut the Democratic edge on the council to 4-3.

With 92 percent of precincts reporting at just before 10 p.m., incumbent Fred Ronstadt held a 50-46 percent lead over Democratic challenger Gayle Hartmann for the Ward 6 council spot. Ward 6 includes the University of Arizona.

For weeks, Ronstadt and Hartmann had exchanged a barrage of negative ads, with both attacking the other's positions on myriad issues from transportation to gun laws.

In Ward 3, the only other contested race, Republican Kathleen Dunbar held a 48-43 percent lead over Democrat Paula Aboud. Libertarian Jonathan Huffman had just over 4 percent of the vote. The seat is currently held by Democrat Jerry Anderson, who did not run for reelection.

Current councilman Steve Leal, a Democrat who was running unopposed, was reelected to his Ward 5 seat.

The election will likely shift the once-left-leaning City Council farther to the right. Although Democrats will still hold a 4-3 majority on the council, Ronstadt and Republican Mayor Bob Walkup are frequently joined by Democrats Shirley Scott and Carol West on controversial votes.

The addition of Dunbar would likely strengthen Walkup's coalition, leaving only Leal and Democrat Jose Ibarra to oppose the more conservative bloc.

Tucson voters also rejected Proposition 100 by a 51-47 percent margin. The measure would have raised the mayor's salary from $42,000 to $48,000 and council members' salaries from $24,000 to $32,400.

Two other ballot measures, which renewed the franchise awarded to Southwest Gas and created a General Plan to study future city growth, passed overwhelmingly.

Only about one-third of Tucson's 194,000 registered voters turned out for the election.