GILROY
– With Election Day less than a week away, the nation’s largest
retail store has entered a Gilroy political fray hoping to crush
the campaign of any candidate affiliated with a local,
union-friendly, get-out-the-vote group.
GILROY – With Election Day less than a week away, the nation’s largest retail store has entered a Gilroy political fray hoping to crush the campaign of any candidate affiliated with a local, union-friendly, get-out-the-vote group.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched a mass mailing across Gilroy Wednesday urging residents to vote against candidates who are members of Gilroy First! – a local voter education outfit with union ties that turned out to be stronger than the group originally had let on.
The glossy mailer is titled “Don’t Let Gilroy First! Ruin Gilroy” and tells voters to “Say ‘No!’ to dishonest political activists, and say ‘Yes!’ to a healthy Gilroy future.” The flyer stops short of naming the mayoral and City Council candidates who are members of Gilroy First! – Lupe Arellano, Peter Arellano and Paul Correa – but says the group “is financially dependent on labor groups that endorsed only union-friendly candidates.”
Gilroy First!, which has registered 500 new voters since its inception this summer, said it would not make candidate endorsements. However, critics of the group claim it made de facto endorsements via union-backed slates since labor groups hosted Gilroy First!’s original meetings, filed its Fair Political Practices Commission paperwork and designed its now defunct Web site, all at no charge.
Part of the flyer reads like a letter, beginning with a “Dear Neighbor” salute and ending with “Sincerely, The Associates of Your Gilroy Wal-Mart.” It accuses candidates of distorting the facts regarding Wal-Mart’s effort to move from its existing Arroyo Circle store to a new “big box” shopping center off U.S. 101 and the Pacheco Pass.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Hill said the mailer was not written or paid for by the Gilroy store, but that local management was aware of the mailer and “ecouraged it” be sent. Wal-Mart sent the document to all Gilroy households with registered voters, Hill said.
The Wal-Mart issue has been a focal point of campaign debates and letters to the editor as the Nov. 4 election approaches.
Gilroy First! candidates are calling the flyer a hit piece and pointing to it as an example of how far big money will go to run things. Wal-Mart defends itself in the flyer claiming “the mailer is intended to cut through the hype and give (the voter) the facts about the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.”
“We did not ask to become part of this campaign,” Hill said. “Some candidates chose to make us a part of it.”
“I guess the mud can get slung both ways,” mayoral candidate Lupe Arellano said. “But Wal-Mart is clearly getting into the business of politics. This is a case of outsiders trying to control a local election.”
In a campaign with issues as critical as revitalizing a lagging downtown core and coping with further revenue losses from the state, some candidates and voters question whether attention is too sharply focused on the Arkansas-based retail giant.
City Council candidate Dion Bracco in a debate last week called Wal-Mart “a whipping boy” of this campaign. Bracco said unions are using the issue as a scare tactic on voters and a scapegoat to divert attention away from empty candidate platforms.
“Some candidates want to make this campaign about Wal-Mart because they have nothing else to run on,” Bracco said.
For mayoral hopeful Arellano, a shift of focus away from Wal-Mart and toward issues like perchlorate, the budget, infill development and downtown revitalization would be welcomed. However, Arellano says the Wal-Mart issue isn’t just about the company and its relocation effort.
“You can’t boil it down to one single thing about Wal-Mart,” Arellano said. “There are several things about Wal-Mart that must be considered.”
For instance, Arellano is leery over potential traffic impacts to the residential section of Sixth Street if a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town. Already, drivers use Sixth Street as a shortcut to shopping centers on the east side of town and Arellano is worried that a Supercenter will force pedestrians to wade through even more traffic.
City Council candidate Bruce Morasca, who is prioritizing agricultural preservation over further retail development, sees a direct connection between the Wal-Mart issue and overall quality of life for Gilroy residents.
A grocery clerk at the Albertsons in Morgan Hill, Morasca is troubled by news that PW Marketplace – an east side Gilroy supermarket – might leave town before the end of this year.
“Sales have diminished since Costco and Target came here,” Morasca said. “Sure, Wal-Mart isn’t built yet so some people say there’s no correlation (between Wal-Mart and PW’s plans), but I’m in the business, and I can see there’s a big worry.”
PW Senior Vice President Mike Stigers acknowledged that recent PW sales in Gilroy have dropped off since Costco and Target – both sell some groceries – opened.
Stigers said the company has set no timeline to move from its east side Gilroy location. Stigers said PW is strongly interested in locating to Gilroy’s northwest quad if opportunities allow, but said leaving Gilroy is an option.
Why enter Gilroy politics?
Wal-Mart wants to open a Supercenter version of its store within the now-budding Pacheco Pass Center. The new store would sell groceries at typically low Wal-Mart prices.
Citing low wages and weak outlay of benefits, opponents warn that a Wal-Mart Supercenter would unfairly trounce east-side competition, sending supermarkets there packing and subsequently making it harder for smaller neighboring businesses to survive since they rely on supermarket customers to patronize their stores.
California represents the last frontier for Wal-Mart’s Supercenters, which span nearly twice the square footage of a typical Wal-Mart store, and pockets of stiff resistance have faced Wal-Mart as it pursues plans to open 40 California Supercenters during the next four years.
Oakland last week banned Wal-Mart Supercenters and a Contra Costa County city, Martinez, made it more difficult for Wal-Mart to open the larger versions of its stores by creating a new permit process for large-scale retailers.
Those developments mean Gilroy now represents the first opportunity for Wal-Mart to open a Supercenter in Northern California. And it’s the new Gilroy City Council that will have the chance to approve or deny that bid.
“This is corporate America versus local community voice,” Correa said. “I’m not surprised by this. Wal-Mart has a history of trying to steamroll communities and shutting off local voices. They’re in their First Amendment rights, but when the largest retail company in the world can pour so much into a local campaign you know the corporate monster has reared its head.”
Will Wal-Mart matter at the polls?
As Gilroy resident Marcia Littleton walks into her neighborhood supermarket six days before the election, Wal-Mart is one of the furthest things on her mind.
“If a new one comes in, it doesn’t matter to me either way,” Littleton said. “It’s not a voting issue for me.”
Whether a candidate’s stance on Wal-Mart will sway the vote is a question only the rest of the electorate can answer on Nov. 4. A quick survey of Nob Hill grocery shoppers and Starbucks coffee sippers in Gilroy indicates that while Wal-Mart may not be a priority for voters, how a candidate views the Wal-Mart issue could be a barometer for voters in this likely close election.
“Let me put it this way, I wouldn’t vote for anyone trying to make an issue about Wal-Mart going into a bigger store,” said John Young, a Gilroy resident the past 22 years and a former Chamber of Commerce president. “As a former business manager, you’re not going to get support from me when you try to stop free enterprise. If you really want to object, don’t shop there.”
For 24-year resident Don Murawski, a stance for or against Wal-Mart likely won’t earn his vote.
“I still have a lot of reading to do for this election. I haven’t made up my mind where I stand on something like Wal-Mart,” Murawski said.
But Murawski admits he has concerns about Gilroy’s residential and retail growth, and a candidate’s stance on Wal-Mart may reflect how they’ll govern these matters.
“There’s been so much development, I often wonder if everyone (from schools to police and fire personnel) is able to keep up with it,” Murawski said. “I just want politicians who look at the betterment of the whole community when they get elected.”
