PoliticalClimate - page 10

The ballots in this all-mail election begin arriving in local mailboxes in less than two weeks and we can expect the pace of this long campaign to begin to resemble a ferret that has had too much coffee.

Meanwhile, so many things are being said by so many people about the candidates for the Redwood City Council that it might be useful to review what they are saying about themselves.

It might also be more accurate than the hints and allegations too frequently generated on local social media.

Based on recent candidates’ forums, public appearances and campaign materials, here is your current Political Climate guide to each of the candidates and the main message they highlight:

Vice Mayor Diane Howard, a 19-year veteran of the council: She says she will be the voice of experience on a council that is likely becoming increasingly inexperienced. Assuming she is re-elected, the seven-member council will have two new members at the end of the year. Assuming Councilwoman Shelly Masur goes forward with her plans to run for the state Senate and with Mayor Ian Bain termed out, another two new members will join the council in 2020. That means the majority of the council will be in their first terms. And with district elections possibly in place by 2020, the number could be higher.

“It’s important to have someone (on the council) with the authority and deep history of our community,” she said.

Certified Public Accountant and community activist Rick Hunter: He is the self-described man in the middle – allied with no contingent of established points of view. His campaign literature bears three word: “Balanced. Independent. Experienced.” He says most people are “in the middle” on the issues facing Redwood City, neither fully opposed to the growth that has occurred nor comfortable with the changes that have taken place. They are seeking solutions without predetermined ideology, he says.

Businesswoman, mother and Planning Commissioner Giselle Hale: She is seeking to be a voice of a new generation of families in Redwood City, while upholding what she calls the values and diversity of the community. Her campaign literature describes her as “a new candidate” and she frequently says she and her husband “chose” Redwood City as a place to live and raise a young family. She notes she will be the only member of the council with children currently in the city’s school district and among the issues she highlights is an increase in childcare options for working families with small children.

Small business owner Christina Umhofer: She is the one candidate who speaks most directly to those who are uneasy about the changes that have occurred in the city, couching it this way: “I plan to help Redwood City move into the future with residents’ quality of life in mind.” She also says, “I want to represent the residents of Redwood City, not out-of-town corporations.” Her campaign slogan is: “From Redwood City, For Redwood City.” She cites her experience owning local small businesses and as a property owner as examples of practical experience she will bring to the council. “I am solution-oriented,” she says.

Stanford community relations representative and community activist Jason Galisatus: He says he brings a “fresh perspective” to city politics and seeks to speak for Millennials who work in Redwood City and can’t afford to live here. Many of them are like Galisatus – born and raised and now priced out. He speaks most directly to the positive changes that have occurred and capitalizing on those changes. “I grew up in Redwood City at a time when it was an affordable city where working families like mine could afford to buy a home,” he says. “… I want to lead us into the future while respecting where we’ve come from.” If elected, he would be the only renter on the council.

Community organizer Diana Reddy: She calls herself the “community’s voice” and cites her long experience as a community level organizer on issues of “social justice,” including immigration reform, low-income housing and pay equity/living wage. She is a steadfast advocate for housing and seeks to speak to residents who have been bypassed or pushed aside by the economic boom overtaking the region. “I have the courage to fight for the residents of Redwood City and focus on working- and middle-class interests rather than special interests,” she says. She will “bring openness, transparency and accountability back to city government.”

Businessman and Planning Commissioner Ernie Schmidt: He has been in the middle of the approvals that revitalized the city’s downtown, and he seemingly knows everyone. Vice Chair of the Planning Commission for more than nine years and a manager at the Fox Theater, a downtown anchor, Schmidt’s experience is broad, matched by the number of people who know him and have worked with him, particularly in volunteer benefits for the community. He touts his relationships – in the community and throughout the state – as a measure of his ability to build consensus on the issues facing the city.

Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.

In photo above, top-left to top-right: Jason Galisatus, Giselle Hale, Diane Howard and Rick Hunter. Bottom-left to bottom-right: Diana Reddy, Ernie Schmidt, and Christina Umhofer.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.

It’s not just the Political Climate, it’s the season:

LABORING ON: The San Mateo County Central Labor Council is out with its first list of endorsements. A handful of other races will be decided after Labor Day.

There are some surprises, most notably that long-time labor ally Diana Reddy did not win an outright endorsement in the hot race for Redwood City Council.

By her own description, and that of many others, Reddy has walked, stood and picketed shoulder-to-shoulder with labor on a long list of social justice issues.

Instead, the labor council endorsed incumbent Vice Mayor Diane Howard and challengers Giselle Hale and Jason Galisatus in the three-seat race.

Reddy received what is known as an “open” endorsement – local unions, such as SEIU, which dominates union representation in Redwood City, can endorse her, but she will not have the benefit of the county labor council’s support.

That means Howard, Hale and Galisatus will appear on the slate mailing that will go to union households in Redwood City. It also can mean direct contact of union members by the labor council and it can provide some fundraising opportunities.

The “open” endorsement means Reddy fell short of the two-thirds needed among the delegates who attend the labor council’s endorsement sessions – roughly 50 or so.

The Building Trades Council unions are the most active in the process and it can be surmised that while Reddy is the most aggressive advocate in the race for low-income housing, the other three candidates probably have a broader agenda of support for development.

The labor council endorsed Measure W, the countywide half-cent sales tax for transportation projects and programs, which means their support will be featured on the countywide slate mail piece sent to all union households in San Mateo County. That’s 40,000 households and 74,000 union members. … In most races, the labor council endorsed incumbents, including Pamela Digiovanni in Daly City and Mark Nagales in South San Francisco. …. In the race for the San Mateo County Community College District Area 4 seat pitting fellow trustees Richard Holober and Tom Mohr, the labor council endorsed Holober. Technically, Mohr is the incumbent – he has lived in Area 4 for a while and Holober moved there to challenge Mohr, who received an “open” endorsement. … On September 10, the labor council will announce its endorsements in Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Jefferson Elementary School District in Daly City.

OUT-FOXED: A complaint has been filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission against Redwood City Council candidate Ernie Schmidt over a campaign expense he failed to report in his race for the council in 2013.

Schmidt, vice president at the Fox Theater in downtown, kicked off his 2013 campaign at the Fox and never reported the use of the facility as campaign expense.

He paid for the use of the venue, $700, but never reported on his campaign finance disclosure statement, Schmidt said.

“It was just an oversight from the accountant at that time,” Schmidt said. As soon as he was notified of the complaint by the FPPC, “I corrected it immediately – literally that same week,” and filed a new report on the expense item, Schmidt said.

The complaint was filed anonymously, of course, and the complainant, ever-helpful, wrote to the FPPC: “This candidate is in the midst of a campaign for the same office for election in November 2018 and so this needs to be handled quickly.”

Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.

Editor’s Note — this column was updated in order to correct details on the nature of Schmidt’s FPPC violation. While the initial report stated the violation was a failure to report a contribution, the violation was in fact about not reporting the expense.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.

Add Redwood City to the growing list of jurisdictions on the Peninsula and throughout California that are being urged to move to district elections under threat of legal action.

The City Council has received a letter asserting that its system of at-large elections systematically discriminates against minority voters and severely constrains the ability of minorities to win a seat on the council. These discriminatory actions are in violation of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, according to the letter.

The letter, from Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman, notes that Latinos are 39 percent of the city’s population and yet the city has only one Latina councilmember, Alicia Aguirre, who was first appointed to the council in 2003, “underscoring the inability of Latinos to elect in the first place a candidate of their choice. … The virtual absence of Latinos to run for or be elected to the city’s council (is) outwardly disturbing, it is also fundamentally hostile toward Latino participation.”

Seven other local jurisdictions have adopted district elections, or are preparing to do so: Half Moon Bay, Menlo Park, South San Francisco, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, the San Mateo County Community College District, Sequoia Union High School District and the Redwood City Elementary School District.

In the city of Santa Clara, a court recently ordered the city to go to district elections despite a June ballot measure in which voters rejected such a proposal.

Most of them undertook the shift from at-large elections under threat of a lawsuit from Shenkman, who has forced several California cities to make similar transitions.

The letter states that the city’s at-large system “dilutes the ability of Latinos to elect candidates of their choice or otherwise influence the outcome of the city’s council elections.

As if in confirmation of Shenkman’s contentions, the current race for three seats on the Redwood City Council has attracted seven candidates and only one, Ernie Schmidt, is a Latino.

City spokeswoman Meghan Horrigan said “staff is evaluating next steps.”

But if the response of other cities is any indication, Redwood City will soon begin the process of conducting public input on how best to divide the city into City Council districts, followed by the adoption of the new districts, quite likely in time for the 2020 election.

As has been the case in other instances, this can cause some problems for incumbents who may live in the same district and face the prospect of running against one another or moving into a new district.

In Menlo Park, where district elections are underway this year, it is clear the prospect of running in a smaller district has drawn challenges to incumbents that might not have occurred in a citywide race.

Incumbent Kirsten Keith is being challenged by Drew Combs, who almost won a citywide election in the last election. Incumbent Peter Ohtaki has two challengers, Ronald W. Shepherd and Betsy Nash and an open seat has drawn three candidates, Cecilia T. Taylor, Mike Dunn and George Yang. It’s worth noting in this context that of the eight candidates running, four are minorities – Combs, Taylor, Ohtaki and Yang.

The adoption of district elections is no guarantee that minority representatives will be elected. Since the Board of Supervisors adopted district elections in 2014 and the five board members are unmistakably white. The first race for a seat without an incumbent occurred in 2016 and of the four candidates, only one, Mike Guingona, was a minority – a Filipino in a district that is more than 50 percent Asian. The seat was won by David Canepa.

Shenkman’s hint of a lawsuit is hardly an empty threat – his firm successfully sued the city of Palmdale on the same set of issues and won after an eight-day trial.

Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.

It is easy to think we live in cynical times.

Our national political divisions are acutely drawn and described. Sometimes it seems as though suspicion is the order of the day. Any decision, move or statement seems to be greeted by the assertion that there is a hidden agenda of self-interest or in service to a special interest.

Nothing is what it seems to be.

Throughout the Peninsula, we struggle with seemingly intractable concerns such as a housing crisis, traffic and congestion and the changes being forced upon us by a booming economy.

In the face of these difficult issues, we proceed toward a November election that may be a critical turning point in our region, and it seems we are not immune to this sometimes-toxic atmosphere.

The antidote is openness. That’s why the campaign finance disclosure requirements are such an essential part of our elections.

That’s why a free and independent press remains a critical element of our public discourse – a press that proceeds without fear or favor and that does its best to present unbiased facts and to treat everyone fairly and with integrity. And that opinions within a column such as this one are clearly stated and arrived at honestly.

Much of my professional life has been devoted to such principles. In that spirit, as a still relatively new online columnist for Climate and as the political campaigns roll full steam ahead, it is wholly appropriate to introduce myself and my own expectations for how I will live up to the principles of fairness and integrity.

I began my local news career at the Redwood City Tribune in 1976, where I first was a courthouse and police reporter, then a political reporter. Incidentally, my desk mate was Janet McGovern, now the editor of Climate Magazine and whose own journalistic integrity and love for this community are unimpeachable.

The Tribune was acquired by the Tribune Company of Chicago, merged with its sister paper, the Palo Alto Times and became the short-lived Peninsula Times Tribune. I continued there are a political writer and, later, a daily columnist.

When that paper went out of business, I joined the San Francisco Chronicle as a daily columnist, a job I held for more than a decade before returning to political reporting.

Throughout my journalism career, I have covered six national political conventions, three presidential campaigns, six races for governor and U.S. senator and countless local races for political office.

In 2004, for a variety of reasons, I left the news business – something I thought I’d never do – to join the executive staff of the San Mateo County Transit District, which manages SamTrans, Caltrain and the county Transportation Authority.

I assumed a series of jobs — Special Assistant to the CEO, Executive Officer for Public Affairs and, under former Redwood City Mayor Jim Hartnett, a friend of many years, Senior Advisor/Strategic Initiatives and ultimately Chief of Staff. Among the projects I worked on during these latter stages was the effort to put a sales tax measure on the ballot.

I retired from the transit district in December and I was offered a contract to write an online and print column for Climate.

The offer was from Adam Alberti, a senior executive at the public relations and crisis management firm Singer Associates. I have been friends with Sam Singer since my days as a political writer. Both Sam and Adam were employed by the transit district at my direction on occasions when we needed advice on difficult public relations and political issues.

Climate is owned by SF Bay Media and Adam is the publisher. Adam has extensive political and public affairs experience in San Mateo County, representing developers, major employers and a long list of business interests. He revived Climate so that attention would be paid to the issues of growth, development and a thriving economy, and the consequences of such things.

Much has been said in tweets and online postings about the interests behind Climate. If you want to know about the clients Singer Associates has served over many years, you can look at their website. They’re all right there, fully disclosed. As to who is funding Climate, Adam says that there are several investors and they prefer not to be disclosed.

And here’s what I say: It makes no difference to me. Throughout my career in the news business, publishers always have had financial interests, newspapers have had investors and all news organizations have advertisers.

They didn’t influence what I wrote or how I wrote about them, and they won’t now. Adam has never prevailed on me to slant a story or to favor one candidate over another, and he has made a commitment to me that he won’t.

If any of the interests Singer Associates represents comes before a Peninsula city for any reason, they will get the same coverage as every other organization. They won’t get special treatment – not here, and, if I can presume to speak for Janet McGovern, not in the print magazine.

I have lived on the Peninsula since 1960 and in Redwood City since 1980. I raised my children here, coached Little League and AYSO, swam on the masters’ team at Peninsula Covenant Community Center and taught my boys to drive in the parking lot of Canada College.

A life lived in this wonderful, beautiful Peninsula means I have associations, friendships and affections. This is particularly true in Redwood City, where seven candidates are running for the City Council.

I coached Rick Hunter’s son, Tommy, in Little League. My youngest son went to North Star Academy with Jason Galisatus, so I’ve known him since he was in the fourth grade and his parents since before he was born. I serve on the board of the Sequoia Awards scholarship foundation with Diane Howard and have known her for more than two decades. Ernie Schmidt and I belong to the same church and also serve together at Sequoia Awards.

I’m just getting to know Giselle Hale, Diana Reddy and Christina Umhofer and, believe it or not, I like them all. I admire anyone who is willing to run for office, something I could never do.

I don’t apologize for my friendships, but those same friends can tell you that I take my responsibilities seriously and that I will work hard to report accurately and I will not shade the truth for them.

I believe in the electoral process and the role of an unbiased press. I will cover this campaign fairly and without a desire – overt or secret – to favor one candidate over another. I’m not in someone’s camp. I don’t have a desire to tilt the election one way or the other.

That’s what you should expect. That’s what I expect of myself.

Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.

Climate Magazine, Redeemer Lutheran Church of Redwood City and Peninsula TV are set to host two forums for the seven candidates running for the Redwood City Council.

Co-hosted by Redeemer Lutheran, the forums will be open to the public and efforts are underway to have the events recorded and later aired on Peninsula TV. We expect the public forums will allow members of the audience to pose questions directly to the candidates.

We are delighted to work with Jim Gordon and Redeemer Lutheran, a venerated local institution. In each of the last four city council elections, Gordon and Redeemer Lutheran have hosted a candidates’ forum and they are well established as fair and informative events.

Dates, times, locations and formats are under discussion and as details become available, be assured we will widely disperse them.

“This is a critical election year and we believe these community forums will provide an important community service,” said Adam Alberti, publisher of Climate Magazine and ClimateRWC online. “We are thrilled to partner with a well-established community organization like Redeemer Lutheran.”

Efforts also have begun to schedule the candidates for a special one-hour edition of The Game, the Peninsula TV public affairs show I co-host with Assemblyman Kevin Mullin.

In addition to co-hosting the TV show, it is likely I will moderate the public forum.

Both of these events are an opportunity to hear from the candidates directly, to allow them to respond to questions and to react to comments made by their fellow candidates.

We want to afford the candidates the opportunity to distinguish themselves in these forums – to make clear the significant differences between them in how they will lead the city into the future.

We want each of them to be able to put their best foot forward.

SIGNING OFF: Someone will always be unhappy when there is a change in the landscape and the removal of the Ampex sign from its home alongside Highway 101 appears to be no exception.

Ampex has been gone from Redwood City for 22 years, and it was a shadow of its former glory when it abandoned its 10-building, 46-acre site, which since has been torn down and rebuilt, largely by Stanford Health Care and Stanford University. At one point, Ampex employed 13,000 workers, including 3,000 in Redwood City. When it left town, it was down to 350 employees.

So, what does that make the sign? A landmark? Or just a sign?

If Ampex was just coming to town, would the same people trying to save the sign see the new sign as a landmark? Or just a sign?

By the way, Ampex is a combination of the initials of the founder, Alexander M. Poniatoff, and the first two letters in the word Excellence. This kind of word construction is known as a portmanteau, a word so cool that it’s the only reason I told you about the origin of the name.

Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.

In the hotly contested race for the Redwood City Council, where candidates are predicting a campaign that could cost as much as $90,000, Planning Commissioner and first-time candidate Giselle Hale has raised more than $48,000, nearly double that of her nearest competitor.

Labor and housing advocate Diana Reddy raised more than $28,000, including a $5,000 loan she made to the campaign. In addition, she spent $1,870 on items to get her campaign up and running.

In terms of direct, non-candidate contributions, Hale out-raised Reddy $48,946 to $14,681, more than three times as much.

Hale, a director at Facebook, relied heavily on contacts within the technology industry and colleagues and top executives at Facebook for the majority of the contributions she received, according to campaign finance disclosure statements for January 1 through June 30.

Hale raised more than $19,000 from individuals with ties to the technology industry, more than 40 percent of her donors.

It would mark the first time individuals from the technology sector have played such a substantial role in a city election. Hale is the first high-profile city council candidate directly tied to an industry that rivals property development as the dominant economic influence in Redwood City.

Hale spent more than $8,800 in the first half of the year and had $44,281 in cash on hand as the campaign began in earnest. Reddy had $18,620 in cash on hand.

Community activist Christina Umhofer and former Planning Commissioner Rick Hunter and raised nearly identical amounts. Umhofer raised $10,773 and Hunter raised $10,652. Umhofer had $9,279 in cash on hand as of June 30; Hunter had $9,891.

Of the five candidates who raised money during the period, incumbent Diane Howard raised the least — $4,165. That’s 10 percent of what Hale raised, but as the incumbent, Howard starts with considerable advantages in name recognition. She finished the reporting period with $8,217 in cash on hand.

Neither community activist Jason Galisatus nor Planning Commissioner Ernie Schmidt reported raising any money, both of them having announced their candidacy after June 30.

PARDINI ANTES UP: One individual was the single largest donor combined in this fundraising cycle — Julie Pardini, founder and moderator of the busy Facebook page “Redwood City Residents Say: What?”

Pardini gave a total of $6,970 to three candidates – Reddy ($3,970), Umhofer ($2000) and Hunter ($1,000).

Pardini has done this before. In 2015, she gave more than $12,000 to unsuccessful council candidate Tania Sole. She donated that much because “we were expecting more contributions and I kept picking up the slack,” Pardini.

She said she is supporting Reddy, Umhofer and Hunter this campaign because they are “good candidates” with a grassroots approach to running for office.

She said she has worked with Reddy for four years on a host of issues and “I’ve stood by her and seen her work.” Umhofer “has done some wonderful things for housing.” She doesn’t know Hunter as well “but I trust his judgment” as demonstrated during his tenure on the Planning Commission.

Asked if she thought the city is going in the wrong direction, Pardini said, “I don’t know what the right direction is. I know we have a lot of problems. … Some of the problems are regional, but I’m thinking some of them are the result of decisions that were made innocently but have led to an imbalance in the city.” In particular, she is concerned that rising rents are driving residents away or into economic distress.

JUST AMONG FRIENDS: None of the candidates says he or she is running on a slate, but some of them seem to like each other.

Hunter received $100 from Umhofer and $250 from Schmidt. Reddy received $100 from Umhofer. And Umhofer received $100 from Reddy.

THERE IS OTHER STUFF GOING ON: With San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine’s recent decision not to run for termed-out Jerry Hill’s state Senate seat, the scramble already is on for that 2020 election. Redwood City Councilwoman Shelly Masur is already running, as is ex-Assemblymember Sally Lieber. Rumored to be looking at it are Josh Becker, venture capitalist and CEO of a firm that provides data analytics for the legal profession, and an unsuccessful Assembly candidate in 2016; and Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff.

SHOWING UP: The same group of high school students who put together the massively successful anti-gun March for Our Lives on March 24 are planning another event Saturday, also at Redwood City’s Courthouse Square, to register new voters and inform students about how to vote, particularly when away at college. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m.

FAREWELL: It was my distinct pleasure to get to know Jack Bunzel in the latter years. Former president of San Jose State University when I was a student there and subsequently one of the token liberals at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, Jack was many things – social scholar, political scientist, civil rights advocate, baseball lover — but he reveled in being the quintessential raconteur. He performed regularly at local venues in a well-honed comedy act that harkened to the great stand-up social commentators of the 1960s. He died a few weeks ago and I will miss our luncheons and his gentle swipes at the political condition.

Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com.

*The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Online.