Matier & Ross: Cloutier to take office in Vallejo, pending recount

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 12/3/7 | Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross

[SmithL]

Boozy politicos, contested election results and a union leader claiming he was assaulted - the little city of Vallejo is looking more and more like its wacky cousin across the bay.

The newest installment of the reality show known as Vallejo politics kicks off today, as City Councilman Gary Cloutier faces off against former Solano County Supervisor Osby Davis for a recount of the Nov. 6 mayoral election that Cloutier won by only five votes.

The recount, which Davis is paying for, is expected to take at least three days - with Cloutier, Davis or their supporters looking on at every turn.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday - recount or no recount - Cloutier will be sworn in as mayor. If the results from the first tally stand, he'll be the first openly gay chief executive of a Bay Area city.

If Davis wins, he's in and Cloutier is out. Davis would be Vallejo's first African American mayor.

If it's a tie, "then we draw straws," said City Attorney Fred Soley.

Really?

"I know it sounds incredible," Soley said, "but that's the law."

And how does Cloutier feel about being sworn in as the maybe mayor?

"I can only tell you that all of my life up to this point has been unpredictable," Cloutier said.

No kidding.

Raised in a working-class Rhode Island family, Cloutier made it into Brown University, where he was an all-Ivy League defensive tackle for the football team.

After law school and a stint as an aide to Sen. Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., Cloutier came out of the closet in the early 1990s and moved to San Francisco, where he made a name for himself as a civil rights attorney.

[SmithL]

Cloutier

Davis

[Blagden Alley]

I didn’t know TJ Cloutier was also a politician.