Cynthia Walker lays out her choices for the local Nov. 6
election
It always surprises me when the editorial board agrees swiftly and almost unanimously on issues or candidates. The board members are so politically, religiously, and philosophically diverse. How could a group like us ever agree on where to have lunch, let alone for whom to vote?
But we did it again, on council candidates. Perry Woodward is our first, emphatic choice. He is articulate, intelligent, and fed up with secrecy and with seeing our elected officials approve city staff’s recommendations without question.
Cat Tucker is second. I appreciate her common sense and her extensive experience in the private sector, which combination enables her to ask: why, if the city has a deficit, are we giving raises? The first thing that a corporation will do to reduce a deficit is freeze raises. My only qualm about Cat is that rumor whispers that she is a Democrat. A fiscally conservative democrat seems such an oxymoron.
And Bob Dillon is third. Bob usually calls a spade a spade, and votes the way I would vote about 97 percent of the time. The one area where we will never agree is library ‘Net porn. I think the library should prohibit minors from accessing pornography on library internet terminals. Bob calls it erotica, and thinks I am over-reacting.
On mayoral candidates, the board split. Most of the board supports Al Pinheiro’s re-election bid. Lisa Pampuch and I favor Craig Gartman.
Every voter should get a copy of Friday’s Dispatch and read both the editorial endorsing Mr. Pinheiro and Ms. Pampuch’s column endorsing Mr. Gartman. Both pieces are exceptionally well written and state the positive attributes of both candidates very clearly. In fact, I am strongly tempted to simply plagiarize Ms. Pampuch’s column for my own.
For me, the choice is plain because both mayoral candidates are incumbents: Mayor Al and Councilman Craig. And although one must make one’s decisions about newcomers on the basis of their campaign promises, for incumbents, one can ignore what they say and look at their voting records.
Both Mayor Al and Councilman Craig agree that they vote the same 90-plus percent of the time. And when they disagree, Craig votes the way I would – except for his pro-binding arbitration stance. Nobody’s perfect.
The only measure on the ballot is Measure A, an ordinance that will reduce the tax rate on phone and cable TV service from its current 5 percent to 4.5 percent, but impose the tax on the currently untaxed services such as cell phones, voice-over-internet, and any other communications technologies ever invented in the future.
I do not have a cell phone, or VOI, so it is possible that I would see a decrease in my tax burden if this measure passes. I oppose it anyway.
The little carrot of a half a percent decrease does not tempt me; it could so easily be jacked up in the future. And unlike water and sewer and roads and garbage, where the city provides a service for a fee, communications technology is handled by private corporations.
Furthermore, check your ballot pamphlet: the city attorney’s “impartial” analysis begins, “Since 1971, the City has imposed a Telephone and Users Tax….” Is it safe to infer that prior to 1971, telephone and TV were not taxed in the city of Gilroy?
Lastly, it infuriates me that in the last paragraph of the argument in favor, the mayor and three councilmembers argue that the $1.5 million garnered by this tax “provides essential city services such as police and fire protection, emergency medical response, parks, street maintenance, and youth and senior programs.”
City money goes for $92,000 a year for the city clerk and ridiculous, out-of-control salaries and benefits for city employees. But fail to pass a tax, and “essential services” could be impacted. Baloney!
Vote No on Measure A. And tell your councilmembers, whoever they turn out to be, that we want them to rescind the Telephone and TV Tax of 1971.
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My thanks to City Administrator Jay Baksa and assistant Anne Jatczak for pointing out an error in my last column. Council indeed only introduced, and did not manage to pass, an ordinance transferring liability for sidewalk related injuries to property owners. My mistake.
Cynthia Anne Walker is a homeschooling mother of three and former engineer. She is a published independent author. Her column is published in The Dispatch every week.
