Mercury News Editorial Articles

By Karen Hardy

Mercury News Endorses Karen Hardy Oct 10, 2004

1 Old guard making a play in Santa Clara IT'S CRUCIAL TO ELECT INDEPENDENT VOICES; KOLSTAD, HARDY, KIM AND MCCLOUD ARE TOP CANDIDATES Mercury News Editorial

Control of the city of Santa Clara is up for grabs in this pivotal election -- and it could go back to the old guard with links to the Gillmor family that has pulled strings in Mission City politics for decades.

Four of the seven council seats are up for election, and only one incumbent, Pat Kolstad, is running. If he wins -- as he deserves to -- he could end up as the only independent voice left.

In Santa Clara, candidates run citywide but have to pick a specific seat. To maintain a balanced council with a variety of points of view, vote for Karen Hardy in Seat 3, Gap Kim in Seat 4, and Jamie McLeod in Seat 7, as well as returning Kolstad to Seat 6.

Current council members Jamie Matthews, Dominic Caserta and Mayor Patricia Mahan are closely allied on the council and have ties to the Gillmors. The three candidates they're backing are Kevin Moore in Seat 4, Chuck Blair in Seat 7 and Will Kennedy in Seat 3. Moore, close friends since childhood with Blair and Matthews, has planned on running for some time. Blair and Kennedy entered their races close to the deadline.

Personal alliances* Stadium proposal might win; city should watch finances

Voters need to look hard at the personal connections and the likely implications for city policy.

Development decisions would have to be watched carefully, for example. In addition to personal alliances, both Moore and Caserta have real estate licenses and are affiliated with Gillmor and Associates, the firm founded by Gary Gillmor, former mayor and councilman and longtime political power broker in Santa Clara.

Stadium proposals also would be more likely to win approval. This could be a good thing -- we'd love to see more professional sports in the South Bay -- but Santa Clara is not a huge city, and it needs to watch the finances carefully.

Moore has been the point person for baseball stadium proposals, including the Giants' bid in 1990 and a recent effort to lure the A's south. He downplays his connection to current efforts by the Earthquakes to get a soccer stadium in Santa Clara, but at the Sept. 21 council meeting, a Quakes executive started his presentation by praising Moore for his help. Quakes supporters are helping to campaign for the Moore-Blair-Kennedy candidacies.

Besides working for Gillmor, Moore is a longtime family friend and ran a successful council campaign for Lisa Gillmor, Gary's daughter. Both Moore and Matthews say all the relationships at play here are a consequence of growing up in the city and being devoted to its welfare -- but such strong personal and business ties could encourage back-room deals and discourage healthy debate.

The best antidote to that prospect will be Karen Hardy. It's critical that she win Seat 3.

Hardy cut her political teeth on the campaign to defeat a cardroom proposal in 1992 -- with Gillmor and Moore on the other side. Winning that battle, she became active in groups promoting ethics in government, spearheading the fight to discipline former councilmember Jim Arno for failing to report $6,000 in campaign contributions from the controversial Mission Trail garbage company.

Since then, Hardy has served well on a number of civic boards, including the planning commission. She has extensive grass-roots support and has hired no political consultant.

Matthews steered Will Kennedy into Seat 3 to oppose Hardy.

Kennedy has not been part of the old guard. He's a well-qualified candidate based on his record of public service, which includes founding Lawyers in the Library, a great volunteer program to offer free legal help to the needy. But Hardy's broader experience with city government and absolute reliability as a watchdog make her the better pick.

Moore's main opponent in Seat 4 is Gap Kim, a manager at Google, member of community boards and a planning commissioner. Just about everyone -- including Matthews and Moore -- thinks Kim has talent and potential. He has less experience than ideal for a council race, but he filed months before Moore and is working hard to connect with neighborhoods. He would bring a fresh voice, an analytical mind and solid values to the council.

Moore has community service credentials. He has worked to build trails and youth sports facilities. Since 2002, he has served on the West Valley-Mission Community College board, where both chancellor Stan Arterberry and fellow trustee Jeff Schwartz say he's done a fine job of getting members to work together. Schwartz calls him "courageous and passionate.

"Last-minute hit* Old-style attack ad an example of politics the city might get

But while he was running for West Valley, Moore engineered a last-minute hit on John McLemore, who was running against Mahan for mayor. Mahan called it "unfortunate," and the city's ethics adviser called it an "old-style political ad" relying on half-truths. Old-time politics is exactly what we fear with Moore -- who today says he's still glad he ran the ad.

Like Gap Kim, Jamie McLeod, running for Seat 7, is a newcomer to local politics. But she has broad experience as a community volunteer, and as a city planner in Sunnyvale she has an excellent understanding of local government. If she wins, she would bring a different and healthy perspective to the council.

Chuck Blair filed for the seat at the last minute. He's an amiable restaurateur and popular coach, but his close ties to other councilmembers and to Moore make it unlikely he'd be an independent voice.

Finally, Pat Kolstad. Thoughtful, reliable, independent -- he should be an easy choice for voters. His lone opponent, Tom MacDevitt, can't approach Kolstad's qualifications.

There are other candidates in the three open seats -- Nam Nguyen in 3, Fred Clegg and Mario Bouza in 4 and Todd O'Donnell in 7. Nguyen is gaining prominence in the Vietnamese community but needs experience on a city commission to build a résumé for council.

In this election, Santa Clara voters need to look carefully at relationships and decide whether they want to stay with the longtime political clique. If they do, there's a ready-made slate. If they don't, they should vote for Hardy, Kim and McLeod, as well as Kolstad, on Nov. 2.

Posted on Sun, Oct. 10, 2004

2 Wheeler-dealers pressured Gap Kim to switch races Mercury News Editorial

A lot of wheeling and dealing went into this Santa Clara election. Consider the experience of Gap Kim, the planning commissioner who filed for Seat 4 and then found stadium booster Kevin Moore eyeing the seat.

Kim says councilmembers Jamie Matthews and Dominic Caserta tried to talk him into not running or running for a different seat. Matthews says he thought Kim should change because he seemed talented but not as qualified as Moore. But it was Moore himself who put on the full court press, Kim says, calling him a number of times in late July -- and leaving the impression that a bloc of existing councilmembers was engineering the race.

In a voicemail July 30, Moore tells Kim, " . . . I got asked to meet with Patty (Mahan, the mayor) and Jamie and Dominic -- it's kind of, you know, hush hush -- but I thought I'd give you an update."

Then Moore tries to entice Kim to run instead for the West Valley-Mission Community College board, where Moore now serves." . . . the chancellor over there, he was asking me if you were a potential candidate for this seat. There's no one up there right now, you'd get a free ride. And I told them that, you know, I thought you'd be great. . . . "

(Asked about this conversation Thursday, Chancellor Stan Arterberry said, "Who is Gap Kim?")

Then Moore refers to a previous conversation with Kim about changing seats, so that Kim could get a "free ride" to the council. He again says he talked to "Jamie, and Patty and Dominic," who seemed to be "on the same page."

Kim says he felt outraged and mystified, since at the time Moore had not yet filed for a specific seat and could have chosen a different one.

Moore says he was just trying to help Kim, who's unlikely to top him in the council race.

When we first asked Kim about rumors he'd been pressured, he didn't want to talk about it. But after consulting with close friends, he turned over the voicemail recording.

"The only concern that I have is that the tape be used appropriately to give voters a real choice and not to bring Santa Clara down," he said. "I want to protect the integrity of our city, which is why I'm running. At the same time I'm concerned that no one else is standing up to speak against what's going on."