GILROY
– Ellyn Atkins’ bid to be Gilroy’s next mayor wasn’t done just
to get an A. She really wanted to be mayor, or at least impact a
mayoral race she figured she wouldn’t win.
GILROY – Ellyn Atkins’ bid to be Gilroy’s next mayor wasn’t done just to get an A. She really wanted to be mayor, or at least impact a mayoral race she figured she wouldn’t win.
Atkins’ assertion comes two days after San Jose State’s student newspaper ran an Election Day story about Atkins’ mayoral bid that, to some, indicates otherwise. Paraphrased comments by Atkins are opening the door to questions about whether the first-time political candidate was honestly vying for Gilroy’s top post or just gathering anecdotal experience that would be used for a term paper – all at the expense of innocent voters.
Atkins is an undergraduate sociology student at San Jose State and is doing an honors thesis on the process of running for mayor. In the Spartan Daily article, Atkins is paraphrased as saying “it was pure curiosity” and “a creative research agenda that spurred her to throw her hat in the ring.”
Atkins last week called the Spartan Daily’s choice of words and their placement in the story “spin.”
“That’s not exactly what I told them,” Atkins said regarding the paraphrased words. “ ‘Pure curiosity’ is completely inaccurate because ‘pure’ suggests I only ran because I was curious. ‘Creative research agenda’ is also wrong because I didn’t have some hidden academic agenda.”
Atkins said she entered the race, which ended Tuesday night with her in last place, because she did not want pro-Wal-Mart candidates to run unopposed.
Spartan Daily Senior Staff Writer Tony Burchyns, the graduate student who wrote the piece, says he was simply reporting the tone of Atkins’ conversation with him.
Burchyns declined to comment in detail about his piece, but defended its fairness.
Al Pinheiro, an incumbent City Councilman and popular business leader, garnered a whopping 64 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 balloting for mayor. Second place candidate, Lupe Arellano, finished more than 1,800 votes behind Pinheiro.
Political newcomers Mary Hohenbrink and Atkins took in 8.4 percent and 2.2 percent of the vote, respectively.
