GILROY
– Weeks after a union-friendly voter education group was
scrutinized for being more politically slanted than it had let on,
another Gilroy organization is under the partisan microscope for a
questionnaire it has submitted to candidates.
GILROY – Weeks after a union-friendly voter education group was scrutinized for being more politically slanted than it had let on, another Gilroy organization is under the partisan microscope for a questionnaire it has submitted to candidates.
The Right Track Committee, which has two loosely affiliated members – incumbent Roland Velasco and Russ Valiquette – running in the Nov. 4 City Council election, will publish the candidates’ responses in a brochure to be mailed to registered voters. The questionnaire responses and responses to questions that will be posed in upcoming face-to-face interviews, will be used by the group to make campaign endorsements.
It is the first time the two-year-old group has produced such a brochure, although it endorsed candidates in the 2001 City Council election. The effort is drawing scrutiny from citizens supportive of the union-backed get-out-the-vote group called Gilroy First!.
“I have nothing against them, but I’m sure people will have questions about who they are and what they stand for,” said Paul Correa, a City Council candidate and member of Gilroy First!. “It’s only fair to ask questions about who they are the same way people asked questions about Gilroy First!. Candidates and the media should ask questions.”
When news spread regarding Gilroy First!’s ties to a network of South Bay labor unions, critics complained the group was posing as a benign voter education group while in fact they were a front for the union. One critic responded by lodging complaints to the city, the district attorney’s office and the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission.
Right Track’s co-chair Sam Bozzo says the effort to produce a brochure is not a backlash response to a similar effort by Gilroy First!
“Our intention is not to get into any kind of fight with them,” Bozzo said. “This is not a response to Gilroy First!. Doing a brochure is just a better process (than what was done last year).”
Last year, Right Track endorsed candidates after conducting interviews, but did not seek candidate viewpoints by way of questionnaire. The group, Bozzo said, makes endorsements but does not donate to campaigns.
“We are in favor of economic development in Gilroy. That’s our mission,” Bozzo said. “We believe Gilroy is a great place to work and play.”
And that’s what the group’s questionnaire focuses on. It asks candidates:
• how they would increase quality jobs in Gilroy,
• how they would increase city revenue without expanding retail,
• and at what rate (with regard to population) they would like to see the city grow.
The questionnaire also asks candidates to rate seven priorities using a scale from zero (for “undesirable”) to 10 (for “highly desirable”). The priorities range from “policies to attract new businesses” and “policies to attract new jobs” to “preservation of open space” and “improving parks and recreation opportunities.”
The section is drawing varied reactions from candidates. Correa criticized the section, claiming it would not tell voters anything about a candidates’ knowledge of the issues.
Since all of the priorities are important issues, there is also concern that Right Track could use the rankings out of context. If a candidate ranked, say, “policies to retain existing businesses” at only a seven or eight, it could seem as though the candidate does not believe business retainment is “highly desirable.”
“I put 10 for all of them,” said mayoral candidate Lupe Arellano. “They’re all highly desirable. The question doesn’t say I have to rank any of them. It just says to put a score next to them.”
Although the brochure format has not been finalized, Bozzo firmly denied any intention of using the answers out of context.
“We are not going to print ‘Joe Blow won’t support jobs’ or something misleading like that,” Bozzo said. “We’re going to take this information as a whole and see how close in line these candidates are with our mission statement.”
Questions still linger for Arellano since she was told members of fellow mayoral candidate Al Pinheiro’s campaign committee are Right Track members. Pinheiro said it is most likely some of his committee members belong to Right Track, but said he has never attended a meeting or donated to the group.
“I don’t think there is a problem with (committee members being in Right Track),” Arellano said. “But it does make me wonder what they want my (questionnaire) answers for. Is it to use for their candidate or is it for some higher purpose?”
For Councilman Bob Dillon, the campaign manager for Valiquette, Right Track is significantly different than Gilroy First!
“For one thing they filed their FPPC form, and they’ve always played things on the up and up,” Dillon said.
Gilroy First! also filed with the FPPC, but not until Sept. 3, months after it had announced itself as a voter education group and began holding get-out-the-vote recruitment drives. Also, its spokeswoman Rose Barry called the FPPC filing a mistake, since the form made it legal for Gilroy First! to endorse candidates – something the group said it would not do.
“Right Track never made a secret of who they are,” Dillon said. “If Gilroy First! played it that way, they wouldn’t be in the position they’re in now.”
Bozzo said Velasco and Valiquette would not be part of the committee that selects candidates to endorse. He also said their membership was not formal.
“They have attended meetings, and they are on our mailing list,” Bozzo said.
According to Velasco, he donated to the group but has only attended one meeting. Valiquette said he has not donated to Right Track, but attended meetings to learn more about the group.
The Right Track mailing list is more than 100 members deep and is comprised mostly of people who donated to the group in the 2001 election, Bozzo said.
Right Track endorsed Valiquette, Dillon and Councilman Craig Gartman in 2001. Valiquette, who serves as chairman on the Gilroy Planning Commission, did not get elected to Council in that election.
