A mailer suggesting that Mayor Al Pinheiro and four
councilmen
”
rubber stamp
”
city policies might be the first sign of what could prove a
nasty political season.
Gilroy – A mailer suggesting that Mayor Al Pinheiro and four councilmen “rubber stamp” city policies might be the first sign of what could prove a nasty political season.
Late last week, a number of prominent Gilroyans reported receiving a white cardboard mailer resembling a playbill. A mailer obtained by the Dispatch includes no return address and is entitled “City Council, Guide for Rubber Stamp Approvals,” and includes pictures of Pinheiro and councilmen Dion Bracco, Paul Correa, Russ Valiquette and Roland Velasco. A message facing the pictures tells readers to select “which rubber stamp approvals” they desire and to forward their choices to City Administrator Jay Baksa at City Hall.
Not named in the mailer are Councilman Craig Gartman, who announced earlier this month that he would challenge Pinheiro in the fall mayor election, and Peter Arellano, the lone councilman who has not publicly endorsed Pinheiro’s re-election bid.
“It’s sad that our community is having this kind of thing happen,” said Pinheiro, who called the mailer “a hit piece.”
“We should all be above this,” he said. “There’s definitely an air of misguided judgment of doing this kind of thing in our community.”
Councilman Russ Valiquette called the mailer a “desperation move” but refused to name a possible culprit.
“I’m not going to point the finger at one person, but you look at the terminology used in it, and think about the few letters and articles in the last few weeks and who has used the term “rubber stamping.'” he said.
Gartman has used the term with increasing frequency in recent months following a number of dissenting votes. He has accused his peers, including Arellano, of failing to push back against what he sees as an over-reaching bureaucracy. Gartman denied any responsibility for the mailer or knowledge of who may have sent it.
“Not my style. I put my name on things I do,” Gartman said. But that’s not to say he disagreed with its message.
“I don’t think it’s dragging the race into the gutter,” Gartman said. “I take a look at what they’re saying and I don’t see it as much as a campaign message as a sign of the frustration of what’s going on today.”
A wave of public anger erupted in April when city council approved $200,000 in pay raises for top city managers (Gartman voted against the plan and Velasco recused himself due to his marriage to a city employee). The outcry grew worse two weeks after the decision, when Baksa presented budget estimates showing the city on a six-year path to eating up a $27 million reserve fund.
Mark Zappa, a Republican campaign activist and anti-tax advocate, blasted council members for failing to reject the pay-raise plan.
“I didn’t do it, but I wish I had,” he said of the mailer. “It’s the truth. It goes along with my theme that we have a group of councilmen who aren’t doing their own research, and are going along with what Al (Pinheiro) and Jay (Baksa) are telling them.”
Zappa promised that his political action committee’s name – Citizens Against Waste and Fraud – would appear on mailers he plans to send in the coming campaign season.
“We’re going to be very assertive,” he said, “and we’re going to be telling the truth, and it may not paint a real rosy picture of the city council or city administrator.”
Pinheiro said the mailer was sent to a number of prominent Gilroyans, including former parks and recreation commissioner Sam Bozzo and Downtown Business Association member Dave Peoples, among others. Planning Commissioner Joan Lewis, who received a copy, called it “dirty politics” and a bad sign for the coming election.
While it remains unclear how many mailers were sent, it’s unlikely they violate any campaign laws, according to Robert Stern, executive director for the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. The state’s Political Reform Act, he explained, only requires PACs to identify themselves on mailers when a candidate or issue is explicitly endorsed, more than 200 mailers are sent out, and other threshold requirements are met.
“The Political Reform Act is mainly concerned with how much money is being spent, and who is spending it,” Stern said. “It will never look at the content of the mailer to see if it’s true or false. We have something called the First Amendment … In campaigns, almost anything goes. You can be as negative as you want.”
