GILROY
– After a gloves-off City Council squabble a gavel-banging mayor
could barely tame, councilmen voted 5-2 to let a controversial
political committee with union ties conduct a candidates forum on
city grounds using city airwaves.
GILROY – After a gloves-off City Council squabble a gavel-banging mayor could barely tame, councilmen voted 5-2 to let a controversial political committee with union ties conduct a candidates forum on city grounds using city airwaves.
City Council granted Gilroy First!, which has three of its members running for office, the right to host a Wednesday night candidates forum at City Hall on city TV. But the prospect of using a taxpayers’ venue for what some think will be a partisan event rubbed enough Councilmembers the wrong way, so that after Election Day, Nov. 4, such debates, no matter who is sponsoring them, will be banned at city headquarters.
Citizen Mark Zappa asked Council Monday night to make the Gilroy First! organization change the venue of its upcoming candidates forum after the group’s union-backed origins were uncovered last week. Zappa wants Gilroy First! to conduct and air its forum at the Community Media Access Partnership (CMAP) television studio at Gavilan College.
Before Council cast its votes Monday night, Zappa, a member of the California Republican Assembly, warned he would organize his conservative group to plan its own candidates forum before the Nov. 4 deadline. Zappa said the group typically endorses Republican candidates.
“I wouldn’t say I’m doing this out of spite for Council’s decision. I’m doing this out of the right to have equal time,” Zappa said.
Zappa, who is helping candidate Dion Bracco manage his City Council campaign, said his candidate will boycott the Girloy First! debate. Already, one other candidate, Russ Valiquette, has boycotted Wednesday’s forum. Even though all candidates have received the questions that will be asked at the forum, Zappa said those who are not union-friendly stand the chance of being thrown into a political lion’s den at the taxpayers’ expense.
An October debate at City Hall sponsored by the American Association of University Women will also be allowed under the city’s new policy since it had been scheduled prior to the controversy.
The issue played a likely precursor to upcoming campaign battles pitting some conservative and business-friendly Councilmen and candidates against their more liberal, union-friendly counterparts.
Zappa argued that since Gilroy First! had filed paperwork allowing it to receive contributions to support or oppose local candidates, the self-described get-out-the-vote issues committee could not be considered a nonpartisan group any longer. Gilroy First!’s ties to a network of Bay Area unions – which already have endorsed a slate of candidates for Gilroy – surfaced in recent days. A Web site, a meeting hall and consultation services for the group have all been under scrutiny for ties to union leadership.
Gilroy First! Spokesperson Rose Barry said Monday the group still had no intentions of endorsing candidates and that its forum Wednesday would be a nonpartisan venue for voters to learn more about candidates’ views.
The paperwork, filed Sept. 3 by San Jose lawyer Ash Pirayou, preceded claims made last week by Gilroy First! that it was not a front for the union. Although, the group admits its origin stemmed from local meetings attended by union leaders concerned that a new Wal-Mart Supercenter east of U.S. 101 would crush existing grocery stores in the vicinity.
“If that is the case (that Pirayou filed paperwork allowing for major contributions and candidate endorsements) than that is an error,” Barry said. “If anything, this shows how unorganized our group is. We are grassroots. We have $20 in our checking account.”
Barry claims the group wanted to establish itself as an issues committee that does not support candidates, but rather raises issues during campaign time.
Barry acknowledged that Gilroy First! received consulting services from Pirayou, a union-friendly lawyer. The group has also admitted to using a union meeting place and phone line when it launched in June. Barry ordered a Web site, designed by a union communications specialist who volunteered his time, to be taken off the Internet last week.
“The bottom line is we have members who are members of unions, and we’ve used union resources for our purposes. If that is illegal, we’ll stop doing it,” Barry said. “I don’t know what’s illegal or even immoral about having friends in unions who make donations to a cause they believe in.”
In light of the circumstances, Council considered making Gilroy First! hold its debate at CMAP. The station is not owned by the city and the forum could have been aired on Channel 20.
However, incumbent City Council candidate and Gilroy First! member Peter Arellano chastised critics, at one point calling their assertions of being deceitful to voters “downright un-American.”
Arellano said Gilroy First! started as a wide cross section of union leaders, laborers, environmentalists and other interests who came together last spring over mutual concerns.
Arellano said the group decided it did not want to endorse candidates, but instead, focus on getting more people to the polls and raising campaign issues they believed were important. Arellano described Gilroy First! as a child of the unions, as opposed to an identical twin.
“What you’re saying is a bunch of hooey and a bunch of stuff that you’re throwing out there that’s all circumstantial when you’re looking at records,” a fired-up Arellano said regarding claims Gilroy First! is a puppet of the unions. “I’m telling you I was there (at the first meetings). We talked about what we wanted and what we said was we wanted issues to be put out there that we feel are important for Gilroy to know. No one in this group was deceitful, no one in this group lied.”
Arellano’s argument put up enough fight to convince at least four other Councilmembers to consider what was essentially a compromise solution – to ban debates at City Hall and on Channel 17 once this election was over.
But Councilman Craig Gartman and Mayor Tom Springer dissented nonetheless.
“Given the information that has come to light, I find it most inappropriate for city locale and equipment to be involved,” Gartman said, “This is not an educational group; this is a group with a political agenda.”
“I’ve heard many folks, Dr. Arellano has been one of the most eloquent about it, voice a strong concern about the use of taxpayers’ money,” Springer said. “How many times has the question been raised, ‘Are we giving away taxpayers’ money?’ Well, I do know in my heart that if we allow Gilroy First! into this chamber, into this facility … it will be a political contribution.”
Monday’s fracas was preceded by other developments. Zappa filed a complaint with the city against Gilroy First! and the Local 428 United Food and Commercial Workers union. Zappa believes the two groups may have violated city ordinances requiring business licenses. An address at 6901 Church St. serves as a Local 428 meeting hall. It was the original meeting place for Gilroy First!
