Padres CEO Sandy Alderson loses bid to become Dartmouth College trustee

San Diego — Padres CEO and Rancho Santa Fe denizen Sandy Alderson has lost his bid to become a trustee of Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1969. Alderson's hard-fought election campaign, featuring a slick direct-mail piece and a website befitting a state assembly or senate race, was intended to combat the candidacy of Stephen Smith, a 1988 graduate and former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Smith was put up by alumni conservatives who argued that the college had gone astray, failing to support the football team and coming down too hard on fraternity parties. Alderson, the candidate of the status quo, was endorsed by columnist, baseball fan, and onetime Padres boardmember George Will and opposed by William F. Buckley Jr. Final results: of 32,941 votes cast by 18,186 alumni voters (who could vote for all four candidates running if they wanted), Smith got the most votes, 9984. The school did not say how Alderson fared.