Transsexual Loses Mayor Bid in Napa Valley Town

Voters in several Bay Area cities and school districts voted Tuesday on a variety of issues, but in the Napa Valley town of Yountville, the focus of election day was whether transsexual Terri Pohrman would win her race for mayor.

Although her presence in the race captured media attention throughout the region, almost complete returns showed that Pohrman lost her bid for the office.

Unofficial results with all three precincts reporting showed Mayor Pro-Tem Carlee Leftwich had 621 votes, Pohrman had 280 and former City Councilman Aaron Mosley 187.

Pohrman, a 37-year-old ex-female impersonator, had hoped the election would be decided by the voting at the California Veterans Home, whose elederly residents make up almost 40% of Yountville’s 1,800 registered voters.

Pohrman put on shows several times at the veterans home, where they loved her exuberant performances in high heels and sequined cocktail dresses with plunging necklines.

A former boutique operator, Pohrman promised to bring more levity to the leadership at City Hall.

Although she has not kept her 1970 sex-change operation in San Francisco secret, Pohrman insisted that sexuality should not influence her race against Leftwich and Mosley. They agreed, and based their campaigns on their city government experience.

Across the bay from San Francisco, complete returns showed incumbent San Leandro Mayor David Karp winning re-election with 77.7% of the vote in the blue-collar town.

Karp was running against John Vaccaro, who operates a warehouse surplus supply company and who also faces retrial in Santa Barbara on arson charges six days after the election.

The case involves an October, 1986, motor home fire that authorities think was an insurance-fraud scheme. A 1987 trial ended with a jury hung 11 to 1 for conviction of Vaccaro and a co-defendant.

Meanwhile, in nearby Hayward, voters rejected a proposed 1,927-home development on the scenic Walpert Ridge above Cal State Hayward.

With 50 of 58 precincts reporting, the proposal was being defeated by a margin of 65% to 32%, or 9,234 votes to 4,593 votes.