May 25, 2006

Chavez: Chamber using mailers to ‘wage a war’

Chamber of commerce claims it’s just raising issues

By Daniel DeBolt
Staff Writer

One thing is certain: the 2006 San Jose mayoral election will be remembered as anything but boring.

In early May, candidate Dave Cortese found himself in the middle of what many consider a politically motivated controversy, and now his opponent and the front-runner in the race, Cindy Chavez, is taking her turn.

In a hastily called press conference last Saturday, candidate and Vice-Mayor Cindy Chavez said the chamber of commerce was using a campaign of dishonesty and half-truths to “wage a war” against her through mailers and phone calls to voters.

An automated phone call sent in mid May criticizes Chavez for voting to use eminent domain to take over the Tropicana shopping center on King and Story roads in East San Jose.

The message was recorded by Teresa Mendoza, daughter of Tropicana business owner Jose Mendoza.

The city “tried to take my father’s business and give it to wealthy developers,” she said on the recorded message. “My father worked his whole life to build his business and support his family. I think Cindy Chavez is wrong to take people’s businesses and property … there has to be a better way.”

Chavez has filed two complaints with the elections commission.

A mailer sent May 17 criticized Chavez on the same issue, but the fist mailer, sent on May 16, has caused the biggest stir. Chavez is criticized for supporting a $4.2 million subsidy for the San Jose Grand Prix, while major budget cuts to libraries, community centers, and other city services would occur months later. She is also criticized for keeping information about the subsidy from the public until the last minute. Depending on whom you ask, the mailers either focus more on the subsidy or on the way information was kept secret.

On one side of the graphic’s heavy mailer, the text focuses on the secrecy of the Chavez and Mayor Ron Gonzales’ administration, while the other side focuses on both the support of the grand prix in the face of budget cuts while also criticizing Chavez for keeping information from the public.

“Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez’s and Mayor Gonzales’ backroom deals and secret meetings are costing taxpayer’s millions,” one mailer reads. “Like $4.2 million for the grand prix and $11.25 million for the Norcal garbage contract. The numbers just keep adding up. That’s money that could have been spent on parks, public safety and libraries.”

The chamber is being “hypocritical,” for criticizing support of the grand prix, Chavez said, because the group worked with the city to bring the grand prix to San Jose, and continues to promote the event.

“That mailer had nothing to do with condemning the car race and everything to do with full disclosure and public debate,” said Pat Dando, chamber president and CEO.

Following criticism that the chamber was hurting an event that brought $42 million in revenues to San Jose, Dando said that wasn’t the chamber’s intent. But she claims the controversy surrounding what Chavez knew may have hurt the event.

“If you don’t follow open discussion you wind up turning something that could have been a good thing for the city into a bad thing,” Dando said, referring to Chavez.

Representatives of the grand prix felt compelled to write a letter to the Mercury News following the release of the mailers in which they say the grand prix could bring $400 million in business revenue to the city during the years in which the city’s $4.2 million subsidy will help the race. It also said half of the subsidy will go to city staff for their work, and not come from the general fund. Some of the money went to the paving of the streets downtown, and the race also generated $700,000 for the Canary Fund, an organization working on cancer issues, not to mention the fact it was broadcast in 60 countries.

No other candidate was mentioned in the mailers or phone calls, though Chavez wasn’t the only candidate who voted for eminent domain to be used in the takeover of the Tropicana Shopping Center. Cortese also voted for the takeover. Chuck Reed didn’t.

Willow Glen Neighborhood Association President Ed Rast didn’t agree with the use of eminent domain at the Tropicana, and he said he isn’t a supporter of Chavez. But he said the mailers were a blow to the Chamber’s credibility. At the press conference, Chavez’s supporters, state assembly representatives Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo and former Mayor Susan Hammer said they were ashamed of a Chamber they were once proud to talk about as a symbol of a San Jose that worked collaboratively.

Every year the chamber has a barbeque attended by 800 of the city’s business and political leaders. Lofgren said she doesn’t know if she wants to attend the next one.

Rast said the chamber was sending a message to people, council members especially, that even if you work with the chamber on something, they could turn right around and attack you for it. He said that the city has so many important business issues to tackle that when the Chamber engages in divisive campaigning it hurts their ability to work with others.

On top of the automated phone calls, Rast said he received a phone call from someone doing a “push poll” who asked him four to five questions about Chavez’s voting record. The idea behind a push poll isn’t to record and report results, but to persuade someone to vote a certain way by raising an issue through a fake poll. Dando said she wasn’t aware of a push poll and didn’t know what it was.

Dando said the mailers were designed by a consultant and brought to the chamber’s Political Action Committee (COMPAC) for approval. There are 30 to 40 members on COMPAC but the chamber represents 2000 businesses. Dando isn’t a voting member of the committee but she is the spokesperson. She said an attorney reviewed the mailers before they were sent.

“We had hoped we could steer the campaign in a direction the business community finds important,” Dando said.
COMPAC started by setting guidelines for the mailers, Dando said. They wanted to raise the issue of public debate and full disclosure before the city council makes decisions, the costs of the reckless use of eminent domain, and stress the importance to restoring “confidence and a good name to San Jose city government,” she said. Only facts would be used and the mailers would not be sent last minute. And they would not tell voters to vote for or against a candidate, Dando said.

Dando said the chamber did follow its guidelines, but “in retrospect, I suppose you could always do things in a different way—the implementation may not have been perfect,” she said. “I think the voters are smart people and if they review the records of the candidates they could make the right decision.”

Dando said Chavez could respond to the issues, but instead, she has attacked the messenger.

“When issues are brought forward that you don’t have a good answer to, you divert the attention to surrounding issues,” Dando said.

At the press conference, Chavez said there was no secret deal made for the Grand Prix subsidy.
“The Merc got those facts wrong,” she said.

Longtime friend of Chavez, former Mayor Susan Hammer, called on business leaders to help restore the chamber’s credibility. Eshoo and Lofgren also spoke.

“The attacks on this fine woman are an outrage, an insult to us all,” said Lofgren.

Nancy Pyle, District 10 councilwoman, said she agreed whole-heartedly with Chavez and her supporters at the press conference.

“We do need to speak up,” Pyle said. “This goes beyond the pale … it’s power mongering. It gives our city a bad name. The entire council votes on something and to blame it on one person—there is a lack of logic and respect.”

There is a lot at stake, according to Dando. “What happens during this mayoral election will affect San Jose not just for the next decade, but decades to come,” Dando said.

The election is June 6.