Grading the Santa Cruz city council candidates

I went to saw candidates for city council candidates speak at the SC Democrats endorsement forum. Here's the grades I give them, with a brief explanation.

Steve Pliech D+ Talks a good politics, but couldn't even make it to the forum. Doesn't return emails. Unappealling to the crucial moderate/conservative voting bloc.
Lynn Robinson F Incompetent council member has fumbled the economy while criminalizing the poor. Her brother is a homeless guy and has she used her husband's fancy-schmancy White House connections to do a damn thing about that? When asked who endorsed her she only mentioned the usual gang of local government elites, it's like John Boehner saying you should vote for him because he's endorsed by Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor. See previous postings about how she's also not one for answering emails. She should spare the town economy and go back to planting community gardens.
Hilary Bryant B+ I like the fund raising she did for the Beach Flats Community Center when the incumbent council was planning to hack and slash budgets for essential services. She stepped up to the plate when the rest of the town "leadership" was sitting on their hands, and occasionally wringing them dramatically. She knows how to start and run a small business. I like her more than I like some of her big money donors - the question is to what degree is she an independent thinker, not just Ryan Coonerty's poodle? She says "safe" a lot, I think it's a bothersome code word.
Ron Pomerantz A+ This is the smart money for an electable progressive. Blue-collar New Deal Democrat, used to be a firefighter. He could appeal to diverse voting blocs, including business conservatives.
David Terrazas D- This guy's idea of activism is encouraging people to narc on their neighbors. Which would be a boon for the uber-influential prison guards union, but doesn't do a whole lot to fix the economic and social problems that lead to criminal behavior in the first place. He's a panic merchant stoking the flames of class antagonism, and I don't like it one bit. He'll get lots of votes from the AM talk radio callers and haters on the Sentinel Forum, but will be anathema to the more liberal voting blocs.
David Foster B+ A fount of great ideas and experience. Spend the night at the homeless shelter to learn about local poverty services first hand. Supports sustainable transit and redesigned mass transit. His yard signs are reuseable cotton bags. I'd be very happy to see him on the council, but worry about his electablity - he might seem too liberal to certain members of the species Affluencia Causasus.
Gus Ceballos B+ I like that he talks about the crime wave being symptomatic of the unemployment crisis. He's a Santa Cruz local who's worried about working class job loss and justifiably frustrated with the Old Guard's mishandling of the town economy. I hope he runs a populist campaign that aggressively critical of the incumbents on bread and butter issues. I'm considering campaigning for him, although a think he might have to run multiple races before he wins.
Kevin Moon D Wasn't there because he's not a Democrat. Works for the insurance industry and has the same haircut as Ronald Reagan, what more do you need to know? Obvious distain for poor people. I hope he draws right wing votes from Robinson and Terrazas so the more progressive candidates can win.


So as you can see, my primary endorsement goes to Ron. This is a exciting tight race, and extremely crucial in terms of the socioeconomic crisis that the incumbents have crash landed the town in. I hope everyone reading this decides to get involved with the campaigns, it's lots of fun (we don't call it a political party for nothing!), a great way to meet and network with well-connected people. And these next two months until November are going to crucial. Good luck!