Elections

The Vanguard received a response from the city regard its complaints that the committee entitled, “Committee to Support Sydney Vergis for City Council 2010” failed to comply with Municipal Code section 12.01.055(c) regarding notification of independent expenditures within 24 hours.

The response indicated that while the committee was in violation of the city’s municipal code, due to their notification of the city clerk and candidates regarding this mailing via email on May 25, 2010 (three days after the mailing was postmarked), they would not seek any penalties.

Yesterday we ran our interview with Daniel Watts, it was our fourth council candidate interview.  Last Monday we ran our interview with Joe Krovoza .  On Friday we ran our interview with Jon Li.  On Sunday we ran the third interview, with Rochelle Swanson. The goal with these interviews was to take previous statements and positions that the candidates had taken and explore them more deeply or to clarify issues that have been presented both in campaign material as well as the candidate’s forums.     

Normally we would have run an interview from Sydney Vergis, but that apparently will not happen.  It is unfortunate that our thousands of weekly readers will not be able to see our interview with one of the major candidates in this race.  We offered the invitation along with our invitations for the other four candidates.

In the fourth of our interviews with the Davis City Council candidates, we spoke with Daniel Watts.  Last Monday we ran our interview with Joe Krovoza .  On Friday we ran our interview with Jon Li.  On Sunday we ran the third interview, with Rochelle Swanson. The goal with these interviews was to take previous statements and positions that the candidates had taken and explore them more deeply or to clarify issues that have been presented both in campaign material as well as the candidate’s forums.  

Vanguard:   Of all of the problems facing Davis, why did you choose to focus first on an obscure portion of the municipal code that the city claims has not been enforced since the early 70s?

In Sunday’s Davis Enterprise, Joe Whitcombe says when Measure J was first proposed, he thought “forcing projects to be planned in anticipation of a public vote might indeed result in innovative, beneficial projects.”

Yes. And using their Measure J power, almost 60 percent of the voters rejected the 2005 Covell Village (CV) proposal precisely because it was not sufficiently innovative or beneficial.

The Davis Enterprise yesterday came out in favor of Measure Q.  This is not a really surprising development, and as I pointed out on Saturday, we can certainly make a case for it.  However, the Davis Enterprise’s argument in its favor is completely inaccurate and misses the mark.

We can certainly make an argument that the city budget has been encumbered by the combination of increasing employee compensation at an unsustainable rate while at the same time accruing long-term liabilities that have been unfunded and unchecked.  At the same time the city is removing $3 million from the city’s limited revenue stream, which is a move that is not going to put it on better footing.

It was an interesting contrast Sunday as the Davis Enterprise endorsed Measure R, something that it did not do ten years ago with the original Measure J.  In the meantime, Joseph Whitcombe in his op-ed re-hashed the same tired arguments that the Covell Village developers used back in 2005, that were thoroughly discredited.

The fact that there is no real “no on Measure R” campaign other than the occasional missive launched by the younger Mr. Whitcombe, whether it be the occasional op-ed, ballot statement, or ill-fated court challenge, tells us really all we need to know about Measure R, which is that it is going to pass overwhelmingly and the naysayers of ten years ago have by-and-large faded into the background.

Two weeks ago we learned that John Munn and Ernie Head are pushing a petition drive to put district elections on the ballot.  This has been an issue that has been pondered but never really discussed at any great length either on these pages or in the community at large.

I think most people in Davis should have learned by now that unless the community has a debate and buy-in to an issue, there is a not a great chance of it passing.  A great case in point is the move to make Davis Charter City without really the kind of community discussion that needed to be generated.  That effort had come out of the choice voting effort.  The public had voted in an advisory capacity in 2006 to consider choice voting, but there was no true discussion of it, no real debate, no opposition.

In the third of our interviews with the Davis City Council candidates, we spoke with Rochelle Swanson.  On Monday we ran our interview with Joe Krovoza.  On Friday we ran our interview with Jon Li.   The goal with these interviews was to take previous statements and positions that the candidates had taken and explore them more deeply or to clarify issues that have been presented both in campaign material as well as the candidate’s forums.

Vanguard: What would you describe as your general philosophy on land use, development and the ag-urban boundary?  And when should we develop on Davis’ periphery?

In 2004, the voters of Davis passed a half-cent sales tax that was supposed to preserve city services from cuts.  Instead what we saw is that the $3 million for sales tax went almost directly to a 36% pay increase for firefighters.  It did not “preserve” city services from cuts, rather it increased the cost of city services to the taxpayer. 

Fueled by the increased revenue from sales taxes and booming property tax revenues, the city went on a spending spree that it will likely pay for for the rest of our lives, obligating tens of millions to people well after they have ceased to work for the city of Davis.

Thursday marked the disclosure deadline in the Davis City Council race along with Measures Q and R.  We have learned several interesting things yesterday.  In the council race, Joe Krovoza remains the run away leader in contributions, but Rochelle Swanson who got a late start has now surged to second place, while Sydney Vergis lags the field.

In the meantime, we can now put tangible numbers on the Independent Expenditure (IE) campaign by Marty West and Ruth Asmundson which has garnered a good deal of probably unwanted attention this week.  As regular readers know the Vanguard has filed two complaints against that IE alleging that they had not disclosed their spending in a timely manner subject to Davis City Municipal Code section 12.01.055(c).

Just when you thought you have read your last candidates’ forum, the UC Davis student government, ASUCD, held its own candidates forum on campus Wednesday evening focusing largely on student issues.   While the focus was clearly student oriented, a lot of the issues bleed nicely into broader community concerns on issues such as Picnic Day, Noise, West Village and many others.

The election is now just under two weeks away, but this was another opportunity for the students and also the public to hear where the candidates stand and make their final decision.  The format was a bit different from other formats, one candidate would be asked a question and get two minutes to respond and some of the other candidates could jump in and respond for one minute.

As the Vanguard reported on Sunday and again on Tuesday, Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Retired UC Davis Law Professor Marty West filed a form 410 and created an Independent Expenditure Committee entitled, “Committee to Support Sydney Vergis for City Council 2010.”  We have argued that the group is in violation of the “behest of” clause in FPPC regulations that prohibits independent expenditure committees that are “made under the control or at the direction of, in cooperation, consultation, coordination, or concert with, at the request or suggestion of, or with the express, prior consent of.”

On Tuesday, the Vanguard learned that contrary to the information provided by City Clerk Zoe Mirabile, that the city is the appropriate venue to file a complaint against a violation of City Municipal Code section 12.01.055(c) which stipulates in the event that an independent expenditure committee spends more than $250 that they are required to notify “the city clerk and all candidates running for the same seat within twenty-four hours by facsimile transmission, overnight delivery, or personal delivery each time this two hundred fifty dollar threshold is met. This notice shall include a copy of any mailing or advertisement produced, if applicable.”  As such, the complaint will be filed this morning.

On Sunday the Vanguard reported that we would be filing an FPPC complaint against an independent expenditure committee created by Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Retired UC Davis Law Professor Marty West, “Committee to Support Sydney Vergis for City Council 2010,” for violating the “behest of” clause in FPPC regulations that prohibits independent expenditure committs that are “made under the control or at the direction of, in cooperation, consultation, coordination, or concert with, at the request or suggestion of, or with the express, prior consent of.”

We wrote on Sunday, the idea that the Mayor would involve herself without the prior consent of her daughter does not pass the smell test.  The Vanguard believes that the Mayor would not have involved herself without discussing this first with her daughter and/ or other members of the campaign.  The relationship between the Mayor and her daughter, a key player in the Vergis campaign, presents an inherent conflict when attempting to maintain the appearance (as well as fact) that this is an effort completely independent of the official campaign organization as the independent expenditure law requires.

As we head down to the final stretch in the 2010 Davis City Council campaign, the Vanguard will this week publish our interviews of candidates.  The Vanguard took previous statements and positions that the candidates have taken to explore more deeply or to clarify on issues that have been presented both in campaign material as well as the candidate’s forums.  We begin today with Joe Krovoza. 

Vanguard: What would you describe as your general philosophy on land use, development and the ag-urban boundary?

The Vanguard learned on Friday that former School Board Member Marty West and Mayor Ruth Asmundson have filed the FPPC Form 410 to create an independent expenditure committee to Support Sydney Vergis for City Council.  The Committee’s title is, “Committee to Support Sydney Vergis for City Council 2010.”  On Monday, the Vanguard will file a complaint alleging that Mayor Ruth Asmundson’s relationship with Sydney Vergis campaign treasurer and adviser Alinia Asmundson leads to the inevitable conclusion that there was prior communication and approval by a key adviser to the Vergis campaign.

According to the FPPC Manual, “An “independent expenditure” is a payment for a communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified California state or local candidate or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified state or local ballot measure, and the communication is not coordinated with or “made at the behest” of the affected candidate or committee.”

The conventional wisdom in this council election is that Joe Krovoza is the front runner and likely to finish first and that second place will come down to Sydney Vergis and Rochelle Swanson.  Often in Davis, conventional wisdom is not so conventional and things do not work out as planned.  Nevertheless, if true, the prospects of Rochelle Swanson received a big boost on Wednesday as Councilmember Lamar Heystek added his name to her endorsement list.

It has been a good week and a half for Ms. Swanson’s candidacy as she received both the Sacramento Bee and Davis Enterprise endorsements in addition to receiving endorsements from Mayor Ruth Asmundson and past mayor and current councilmember Sue Greenwald.  Rochelle Swanson is trying to carve out the progressive wing of Davis politics, securing endorsements from both Mr. Heystek and Sue Greenwald, along with other past leaders like former Mayor Bill Kopper and Councilmember Mike Harrington.

Measure Q is the renewal of a half cent sales tax in Davis which generates on average three million dollars in general fund revenue.  The League of Women Voters forum gave us the opportunity to hear the Yes on Measure Q side as presented by Councilmember Sue Greenwald and the Non on Measure Q side as presented by David Musser, a Davis resident.

In addition, on Sunday, the Davis Enterprise published an op-ed written by four of the Davis City Councilmembers and three other individuals in support of the sales tax renewal.

For the second time this week, Joe Krovoza and Rochelle Swanson have received a major endorsement, this time from the Davis Enterprise. 

The Enterprise has a history of supporting the pro-growth candidates and policies, indeed going back to 2002, Sue Greenwald in 2004 is the only non-pro-growth candidate to receive an endorsement.  The Enterprise supported both Covell Village and Target.  But times have changed, and the most burning issue has not been growth this year, but the budget and the Enterprise has fairly consistently been critical of the current council’s budget and spending priorities.

Last week, when the League of Women Voters held their forum, they not only had a candidates for with the city council candidates, but they also had the only discussion on Measure Q and Measure J.

Last week, we covered the candidate’s portion of the forum except for one question, which deal with Measure R.  Today we are going to cover that question and then the discussion between Mark Spencer who represented the Yes on R side and former Davis Mayor Jerry Adler who was opposing the renewal of Measure J in Measure R.