This campaign season may be different

This spring’s campaign for a single City Council seat is unlike any of the 21 previous elections for positions on Yorba Linda’s five-member governing body.

All past council contests shared a ballot with other contenders or issues, from city incorporation in 1967 to several dozen state and federal candidacies last November.

The June 5 special election marks the first time citizens will make only one ballot decision, with just 24 instead of the usual 48 precincts open on Election Day.

While way less than half of the city’s 40,924 registered voters are expected to cast ballots in the contest to fill 18 months left on an unexpired council term, most might be absentee votes, with many sent in by 12,445 permanent absentee voters.

These voters will receive ballots, with unstamped return envelopes, automatically in the mail sometime next month. Voters also will be asked by campaign groups to apply for absentee ballots and some will fill out the absentee form mailed with the sample ballot.

Candidate and former councilwoman Keri Wilson has an absentee voter application posted on her Web site, www.keriwilson.com, and Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation, www.ylrrr.org, will direct an absentee vote drive for former councilman and candidate Hank Wedaa.

This special election for one council seat with thousands of voters mailing in ballots at different times will have two especially positive benefits for residents sick and tired of some past “politics as usual” practices.

First, few, if any, of those phony “voter guides” or “slate mailers” from spurious groups that adopt important-sounding names and take money from candidates willing to pay for endorsements will flood voters’ mailboxes.

A paid endorsement and an unverified line or two of text on dozens of “let’s fool the voters” mailings can cost plenty: $400 for COPS Voter Guide, $590 for Your Ballot Guide, $1,200 for Republican Voter Checklist and $2,275 for California Voter Guide.

Second, last-minute attack ads and mailers, especially those that are unsigned or that use only a made-up “committee” name, will have less influence, since many voters will have already marked their ballots or will be warned to expect noxious hit pieces.

In addition, with just three contenders in the race—Wedaa, Wilson and ballot newcomer and self-financed candidate Victoria Gulickson—residents can expect fewer street signs and fewer glossy brochures arriving in mailboxes.

And let’s hope for less confusion, bitter feelings and charges of favoritism by candidates regarding the city’s sign ordinance. Although a bit murky in meaning, the code can be viewed by candidates and their sign-posting supporters at www.ci.yorba-linda.ca.us.

A FINAL NOTE

A Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee member is concerned that “three quarters of the committee members live west of Fairmont Boulevard,” according to recent Parks and Recreation Commission meeting minutes.

Richard Pepin, the commission’s representative on the blue ribbon body, “feels those residents living east of the downtown area need to be involved in order to have full support of the community. The downtown area needs to service the whole city, not just those residents living on the west side of town.”

Minutes from another commission meeting noted, “Pepin said that 20 of the 24 committee members live west of Fairmont Boulevard and don’t appear to be open to comments from residents on the east side of town.”

Anti-developer pledges

For the first time in at least 20 years—and perhaps the only time in city history—all of the candidates in a City Council race have pledged to not accept campaign contributions from developers or individuals and businesses that depend on council votes for income.

Specific commitments came from Victoria Gulickson, Hank Wedaa and Keri Wilson in response to questions I e-mailed them regarding the upcoming June 5 special election to fill 18 months of an unexpired term on Yorba Linda’s five-member governing body.

In addition, Gulickson and Wedaa promised to not take money from political action committees, which are sometimes funded by developers and other building and real estate-related interests.

And political newcomer Gulickson, 40, noted, “I have made the decision to accept no monetary contributions, but to wholly bear the burden of financing this campaign.”

The first-time candidate added, “It is not that my husband and I are wealthy people, but I feel that when there is something worth believing in and stand(ing) up for, such as ethics and principles, (then) you must be willing to sacrifice to protect those beliefs.”

Wedaa, 83, who’s won seven council contests, and Wilson, 46, who’s won one and lost one ballot battle, probably won’t join Gulickson’s financial pledge in a race in which the past council members are expected to spend in the $20,000 and $30,000 range.

Last year, John Anderson reported raising $25,886 and Jan Horton $25,958 in cash, loans, goods and services to win the November contest, with Doug Dickerson and Wilson, who ran third and fourth, taking in $38,991 and $49,632.

Many council candidates in the past several years have solicited and accepted donations from developers, developer- and real estate industry-funded political action committees, city contractors and other individuals and firms who rely on council decisions for profits.

And builders and real estate-related interests put up a city-record $174,150 in a failed attempt to defeat a citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative (Measure B) on last June’s election ballot.

So, it’s good to see that, finally, this year’s candidates are responding to citizen concern about the appropriateness of accepting money from outside-the-city special interests.

In addition, Wedaa and Wilson had combative responses to my request for them to include “other comments that you think might be an appropriate topic for my column.”

One Wedaa idea: to discuss “why a soundly defeated councilwoman believes she can overcome the massive negative feelings the voters recently demonstrated against her by ejecting her from office, especially when she has an opponent with the reputation for low density and voter concern like me, who has as long record of satisfactory performance.”

Wilson’s suggestion: “I have been reviewing Mr. Wedaa’s contribution forms during his tenure as a council member. I was shocked at the volume of money he collects as non-reportable $99 contributions. As an investigative reporter, you may want to research and write about this practice. I found it very interesting.”

A FINAL NOTE

A first pre-election campaign finance report is due April 26 and a second May 24, 12 days before precinct voting. Since many voters will cast absentee ballots, they won’t have much of a chance to see if candidates keep their election finance promises.

Reports of contributions made just before and after May 24 aren’t due until July 31, and reports of any made after June 30 aren’t due until Jan. 31, 2008.

Candidates reveal their financial holdings

The three candidates seeking to fill the remaining 18 months of state Assemblyman Mike Duvall’s City Council term in the upcoming June 5 special election must give up a bit of their financial privacy, according to terms of a state law approved by voters back in 1974.

The Political Reform Act contains many provisions affecting local government agencies, with council, school trustee and water district director incumbents and candidates, along with management officials, required to file annual economic interest statements.

These documents must report investments and positions in businesses and real property and income from sources located or doing business in the public agencies’ jurisdictions.

Victoria Gulickson, Hank Wedaa and Keri Wilson each submitted statements when they entered the council race last month, reporting their interests in broad categories: $2,000 to $10,000; $10,001 to $100,000; $100,001 to $1 million; and more than $1 million.

Gulickson’s filing indicates “no reportable interests,” while Wilson’s document notes two: she puts the fair market value of her real estate appraisal firm at between $10,001 and $100,000 and places her income from the business in the same category.

Wedaa lists six companies in which he’s an owner, director or consultant, with annual income in the $10,001 to $100,000 range from each entity.

He owns Valley Environmental Associates of Yorba Linda, which conducts studies and has a fair market value from $10,001 to $100,000; is a director for Hunt Investors, a Tennessee emission control systems firm; and consults for Emerachen Corporation, another Tennessee emission control company.

Also, he consults for Hydrogenics Corporation, an Ontario, Canada, fuel cell and hydrogen system firm; Solar Integrated Technologies, a Los Angeles solar energy systems business; and Aurora Lighting, a Tennessee lighting supplies company.

Wedaa also reports $500 to $1,000 income for consulting services to Wilder Index Funds of Encinitas and $10,001 to $100,000 IRA trust income; and he takes a tax deduction for using part of his home on Paseo Gilberto for business purposes.

Perhaps unnecessarily, Wedaa reports a five percent, 30-year home loan from Arizona’s Chase Home Financial for more than $100,000 and the sale of two cars, a 2000 Jaguar to Classic Cars of Newport Beach and a 1994 Acura to a private individual.

Of course, determining the correctness of anyone’s statement would require a pretty intimate knowledge of that person’s finances, but the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which can impose various fines and penalties, handles enforcement.

Others wishing to reveal aspects of their financial lives can join the race by filing as a write-in candidate before a May 22 deadline. Although your name won’t appear on the ballot, any votes you receive will be included in the official tally.

A FINAL NOTE

During a trip to the Gulf Coast and Rio Grande Valley regions of Texas, my wife and I visited a few days with Olaf and Alice Grimsbo in La Feria, one of many havens for the state’s winter-only residents.

The 6,115-population town was in the midst of a spirited contest between two slates of candidates for three seats on the City Commission, which is similar to our City Council.

One slate sponsored a Sunday afternoon rally, featuring food, music and speech-making. I didn’t get a chance to check financial filings to see who paid for the shindig, so I should disclose that Jill and I enjoyed barbeque chicken, beans, rice and cups of cold lemonade

Getting to know the candidates

The three candidates for Yorba Linda’s vacant City Council seat in the upcoming June 5 special election already have made their most cost-effective expenditure in the campaign to get their messages in the hands of the city’s 40,000-plus registered voters.

Former council members Hank Wedaa and Keri Wilson and political newcomer Victoria Gulickson have plunked down $1,000 deposits to include 200-word statements of qualifications in the sample ballot packets to be mailed to all registered voters.

The $3,000 total goes for printing and translating the statements from English into Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese for Yorba Linda voters who request election materials in those languages, with any remaining money returned to the candidates.

For the bargain rate of a bit less than two-and-a-half cents per voter, the contenders are included in a mailing from an official source, the county Registrar of Voters, and their statements are opened and read when residents are most apt to be making their choices.

The three candidate statements, along with a sample ballot, absentee voter application and polling place location, should be in voters’ mailboxes by May 15 at the latest.

An advance look at the statements shows that the candidates did fairly well in describing their past experience, but poorly in outlining specific positions on important city issues.

Gulickson cites 10 years of “leadership in developing, fiscally managing and operating successful, multi-million dollar operations” for Ritz-Carlton and “working with government on both a federal and local county level.”

Wedaa notes “many years of experience” on council and “comprehensive knowledge and understanding of how city governments operate” and says he was an architect of the General Plan, which he’s “always zealously guarded.”

And Wilson lists 26 years of public service as a law enforcement officer and council member and states she’s “proud to have participated in many initiatives that brought positive growth and improvements to our city.”

However, their comments regarding the future are pretty generic, which might be due to the limited number of words, a desire not to offend any particular viewpoint or both.

Gulickson says government and citizens must “continue to work together to support and protect those things that contribute to gracious living,” which are “low density, traffic control, excellent schools and low crime.”

Wedaa contends to know “first hand that families move here because of our safe, low- density and family-oriented community” and claims, “I have been a strong, dependable advocate in keeping things that way.”

And while Wilson doesn’t use the politically popular term “low-density,” she states that she’s “uniquely qualified to take on this challenge of maintaining a gracious community in an increasingly complex world.”

A FINAL NOTE

Although these statements clearly don’t deliver on specifics, they do demonstrate that the candidates are confident of their abilities, and, also important, their words show an eagerness to serve the community.

Gulickson says, “Citizens need to trust that they will be heard. I can deliver that,” while Wedaa notes, “I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I know the right questions to ask” and Wilson says, “It’s not possible to stop the forward movement of an active city.”

Of course, residents seeking detailed positions on key issues must look to candidate night forums, future question-and-answer features in this newspaper and--if we’re lucky--many campaign mailings.