Our View: Gilroy’s elected leaders should change the local laws
so that campaign contributions are apparent to voters before an
election
When it comes to large cash or in-kind political contributions, this is the crux of the matter: Voters ought to know before they vote.
The way the law is currently written, reporting
in-kind contributions (for example, paying for a brochure instead of donating cash directly to a candidate) can be delayed until after the election simply by avoiding a campaign-reporting deadline.
That’s a problem, as Gilroy’s recent city council election demonstrates. Candidates Dion Bracco and Craig Gartman were the beneficiaries of two brochures, one costing more than $3,900 in support of Bracco, and the other costing more than $1,400 in support of both candidates, paid for by a firefighters union political action committee.
Had the firefighters made the in-kind contribution during a campaign finance-filing period that had a reporting deadline before the election, then, of course, it would have been revealed. Had they made a cash contribution of greater than $1,000, they would have had to report the donation within 72 hours, no matter when the contribution was made.
But Gilroy voters didn’t know because the contributions were made at the last minute by savvy political players who know how to use
the system and leverage its loopholes.
In this case, not only did the voters not know about the in-kind contribution, apparently the candidates didn’t know. “They didn’t mention that they were going to spend money on mailers,” Bracco told reporter Serdar Tumgoren. “But I was happy to see it when it came in my mailbox. I’m sure it helped.”
Especially in a city with costly and highly charged binding arbitration and labor negotiations, voters should have known about the firefighters’ hefty in-kind contributions.
We’d love to see action on this on a state and federal level, but in the meantime, South Valley’s local government agencies (city council, school district, community college district, county government) should act to close this gaping loophole, and we’ve got a couple of ideas of how to do it:
n Move the last campaign finance-filing deadline to two weeks before election day, and bar candidates from accepting major contributions of any kind after that last filing deadline.
n Require reporting of both cash and in-kind contributions of greater than $1,000 within 72 hours.
Candidates and their supporters shouldn’t hide their affiliation behind filing deadlines and finance law loopholes. Voters should have a clear picture, before they cast their ballots, of exactly who is supporting a candidate and how much.
Firefighters put their money behind these two candidates because they have a lot on the line in the outcome of negotiations and arbitration battles. So do the residents.
Let’s level the playing field by making sure the voters know whose money is behind which candidate’s mouth.
