Last week the Vanguard reported that Jose Granda’s “No on Measure E” materials were removed from the event table at a forum for school board candidates, but were eventually put back on the table.
Imelda Granda, the wife of candidate Jose Granda, told the Vanguard that they had placed campaign materials for Mr. Granda’s candidacy, along with No on Measure E flyers, upon the table that event organizers had set up for the candidates to place their materials.
Ms. Granda says she saw a woman come up and remove the materials.
Ms. Granda told the Vanguard, “Jose was already at the podium, there was no way for me to get him to provide me some other copies he had with him of those materials to put them back on the table.”
So she said she asked the woman, “What is happening here? Someone removed all the materials from Jose’s campaign from that table.”
Ms. Granda said that she had sat back down and she said that the same woman went back behind the counter and got the materials that were ready to be discarded, from under some decoration that looked like a flower pot in the back behind the desk of the library counter, and put them back.
Ms. Granda told the Vanguard, “She then came back and told me: ‘They were removed because here we are the Yes on E and he is the No on E.’ ” Ms. Granda said, “I told her: ‘How come, we were invited to present our views?’ Soon after realizing what she had done she left.”
Cathy Farman, the President of the Davis PTA initially attempted to clarify the situation, but now has published a fuller account.
She indicates that the woman who removed the material was a volunteer “but not affiliated with DHS PTA or NewStar Chinese School, and not a DJUSD employee” and that she “took it upon herself to remove Jose Granda’s Measure E materials from the table.”
Ms. Farman writes, “I confirmed with my co-host that Measure E materials of any kind were welcome. The forum was beginning and I glanced over at the table, saw Mrs. Granda handling piles of paper at the table and assumed she had located and replaced the removed materials.”
She continues: “A few minutes later, I walked past Mrs. Granda, who motioned to me from the audience. In whispers, she indicated some of Mr. Granda’s materials were missing from the table. I returned to the table and again saw several stacks of his materials. I also noticed a pile of papers turned upside down on the ledge just above the table. I flipped them over and saw they were Granda’s Measure E materials and replaced them on the table.”
“I whispered an apology to Mrs. Granda and assured her the papers were back on the table. At that point, I left the forum for a long-standing prior engagement,” she added.
Cathy Farman clarifies the following points:
- No one who works at the DHS library attended the event.
- The person who removed the papers is not affiliated with DHS PTA, NewStar Chinese School, DHS or DJUSD.
- Mrs. Granda was not told “here we are the Yes on E and he is the No on E.” She misquoted me, I assume because she misheard me as we were conducting our conversation in whispers while the candidates were giving their opening statements.
- There was no one who “after realizing what she had done,… left.” That was me who left, to attend another event.
- Granda’s materials were returned to the table by the time the candidates’ opening statements were completed.
The one thing that is still unanswered in all of this is why the Measure E materials were taken in the first place. Ms. Farman seems to believe that Ms. Granda was never told, “here we are the Yes on E and he is the No on E.” But then why were the materials taken?
As we reported last week, a witness who chose not to be identified, but was not a supporter of Mr. Granda, corroborated a portion of the Grandas’ story. The witness noticed that, while all the candidates were away from their tables meeting with Mariko Yamada, a woman took an armful of Mr. Granda’s campaign materials.
The witness did not understand why the woman had taken so much of Granda’s campaign materials.
The witness did not see what the woman did with the materials.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
“She indicates that the woman who removed the material was a volunteer “but not affiliated with DHS PTA or NewStar Chinese School, and not a DJUSD employee””
If she knows all this then who was she, what’s her name?
“Ms. Farman seems to believe that Ms. Granda was never told, “here we are the Yes on E and he is the No on E.”
Maybe a follow up with Mrs. Granda is in order since she feels she was told this.
“If she knows all this then who was she, what’s her name? “
I don’t know the name – just to be clear.
I talked to Mrs. Granda after the event last week and she felt it was very clear what was said.
I feel like there is some confusion though between what Mrs. Farman was said to have said and what this volunteer might have said.
[quote]If she knows all this then who was she, what’s her name? [/quote]I believe it would be best for the community to know the name of the person responsible for the removals… if for no other reason, to determine if she is a supporter of any of the board candidates.
I see no reason to know the name of the person and I see no way we will know the name of the person.
As long as Ms. Farman withholds the name, she’s part and parcel of the incident. Is stealing campaign materials a crime?
David wrote:
> I see no reason to know the name of the person
Would you say the same thing if someone stole some Yes on E lawn signs?
P.S. I saw a bunch of guys setting up a big Romney Ryan sign on the lot where the Boy Scouts sell Christmas Trees last week and thought to myself “I wonder how long that will last”. I figured that it wouldn’t make it through the night, but was surprised when it didn’t even last an hour…
Again, hypersensitivity demands that the person responsible must be named and punished with public humiliation. It is the Davis way.
[quote]Is stealing campaign materials a crime?[/quote]
I am quite sure that stealing anything is a crime. However, in no one’s version of this event is there a claim that anything was stolen. The most that is stated is that materials were moved from one spot to another and then replaced. This hardly would qualify as “stealing” as the materials never left the venue.
If there was an attempt to obscure campaign materials, this is clearly a wrongful action. I don’t think that it is necessary to resort to distortion and hyperbole.
[quote]P.S. I saw a bunch of guys setting up a big Romney Ryan sign on the lot where the Boy Scouts sell Christmas Trees last week and thought to myself “I wonder how long that will last”. I figured that it wouldn’t make it through the night, but was surprised when it didn’t even last an hour…[/quote]
And do you happen to know for a fact that the “bunch of guys” setting up the sign had the permission of the owner of the lot to set up the sign ?
“Would you say the same thing if someone stole some Yes on E lawn signs?”
Unless it’s Mike Syvannen.
David, speaking of Mike Syvannen, as I read Cathy Farman’s letter to the Editor in the Enterprise I couldn’t help but think that Ms. Farman went to the same “throw someone (anyone?) under the bus” school of political campaigning. As I read Ms. Farman’s explanation, I kept hoping for the words [b][i]”I take full responsibility. I clearly didn’t instruct my volunteers well enough. This was a very unfortunate error that should never have happened. Again, as the most senior member of the sponsoring organization, I take full responsibility.”[/i][/b]