Frye concedes to Sanders

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 8, 2005 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 19 years ago.

San Diego city councilwoman Donna Frye finally conceded the race to Jerry Sanders at 11pm last night , after trailing him by several points all night. KPBS Reporter Alison St John has more.

Frye began the evening 19 points behind Sanders with only the absentee ballots tallied. Three hours later the gap had closed to nine points, proving that her get out the vote team had done their leg work to get supporters to the polls.

Frye conceded that her half cent sales tax proposal could have played a role in her defeat, but was not repentant!

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FRYE: "I always believe that telling the truth as I see it is the best way to do it and if it did have a role I would do it again, I would say it again, I would do it again."

Frye said she'll continue her work on the city council and cooperate with Sanders to ultimately resolve the city's financial turmoil.

She also stressed the importance of next January's election when two new council members will be elected to replace democratic councilmen Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza. Alison St John KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.