Local elections are technically non-partisan, but the country’s
two largest political parties have spent thousands this year
targeting local voters with city council endorsements, and many
candidates say it is a result of Gilroy’s growing population and
rising economic role in the county.
Local elections are technically non-partisan, but the country’s two largest political parties have spent thousands this year targeting local voters with city council endorsements, and many candidates say it is a result of Gilroy’s growing population and rising economic role in the county.
More so than its Democratic counterpart, the Santa Clara County Republican Party has particularly stepped up its involvement in the local election with three separate mailers that endorse the only three registered Republicans running for office.
The Democratic Party specifically endorsed Councilmen Peter Arellano and Paul Correa two and four years ago, respectively. But this was unusual since for years both parties have only occasionally mailed generic campaign letters to voters, never multiple, simultaneous mailers tailored to individual candidates and their political histories, according to representatives from both parties.
Councilman Craig Gartman is challenging Mayor Al Pinheiro for the mayor’s seat, and Planning Commissioners Tim Day and Cat Tucker, former Councilman Bob Dillon, lawyer Perry Woodward and incumbents Roland Velasco and Russ Valiquette are running for the three available council seats.
“We used to be the red-headed stepchild at the end of Santa Clara valley,” Dillon said of Gilroy. “But our elections are suppose to be non-partisan, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.”
Day, Velasco and Gartman are the three registered Republicans championed in the local GOP’s glossy, rectangular mailers. Valiquette is an American Independent. Tucker is the only Democrat in the race, and the rest declined to state, according to 2005 voter registration records.
While committees from both parties voted to endorse their respective candidates in September, according to party representatives, registration as a party member is the chief prerequisite for endorsement.
Dillon agreed that the biggest perk of this support is, of course, the thousands of dollars candidates save on the thousands of mailers the parties mail to registered voters.
“The Democrats and Republicans are just supporting their teams,” Day said. “I don’t have that kind of money to spend, but you know, go at it guys.”
All elections below the state level officially exclude candidates’ political affiliations, but Day said he understood that the two parties were just trying to be active in what has been a Republican stronghold.
Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chairman Steve Preminger said he has not overseen a rapid increase in mailers like the Republican Party has, but the Democratic Party is always trying to promote itself in Gilroy and other Santa Clara County cities, he said.
“In some communities we have done these kinds of mailers to Democrats because one of the problems of a small race like Gilroy’s – and it’s not small to Gilroyans – is that these candidates don’t necessarily have big budgets to get their message out and tell voters that the party did this type of endorsement, and the Republicans are probably thinking that, too,” Preminger said.
As long as the parties only send their mailers to registered members of their party, the postage flurry cannot be regulated because it is intra-party communication, according to representatives from both parties. The candidates do not have to list the cash value of the mailers as a contribution either, they said, but the parties must periodically disclose their expenses in so-called “460 forms” to the Federal Election Commission, the county and affected cities such as Gilroy.
Preminger said the Democratic Party had spent about $2,500 to $3,000 for the production of and postage for Tucker’s mailers. Carol Morrison, a communications director for the SCCRP, declined to state how much the GOP had spent on Day, Velasco and Gartman since she was still compiling the figures.
Tucker said she did not know the Democrats would send out mailers, but she welcomed the free campaign and understood it as a reflection of Gilroy’s rising status.
“I was surprised since we’re a non-partisan race, so we should stay non-partisan … but will I take their help? Yes, but did I ask for it? No,” Tucker said. “It could also be a sign that, one, the Democrats want to push and get a stronger stronghold in Gilroy and, two, Republicans recognize that, too,” Tucker said.
Gartman also said he welcomed the mailers that are indicative of the city’s larger progress, but he saw the GOP’s increased campaign activity as more of a response to Democratic campaigning.
“(The mailings) are positive for the community because for a long time we’ve always been forgotten by rest of the county, and it’s interesting that they’re taking note of it,” Gartman said. He added that “it’s good to see the other (GOP) political party start to take an interest in Gilroy.”
The party has also sent mailers this year to voters in election-holding cities such as Los Altos, Palo Alto and San Jose, according to Morrison.
There are about 5,501 registered Republicans in Gilroy, according to voter records, out of 17,040 registered voters in Gilroy, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office. There are 9,062 registered Democrats. The remaining voters belong to a variety of other parties or declined to state.
As a member of the South County Democratic Club, Alex Kennett said his party’s attention to Gilroy is necessary to keep the movement alive here.
“We’re just trying to maintain the little bit of what we have,” Kennett said of Tucker.
Preminger said despite the non-partisan aspect of local elections, “people do bring their party affiliation with them because their affiliation represents their values.”
