Mercury News editorial: Misleading anti-Liccardo campaign all union backed
Appeared in the Mercury News on 10/27/14
The campaigns for San Jose mayor say a lot about the candidates — but not necessarily in the way the interests paying the bills for them would like.
The campaigns by Sam Liccardo and by his supporters making independent expenditures are positive, ethical and forward looking. Liccardo’s character, philosophy and approach to governing are laid out clearly.
This reflects well on him and on the business and community leaders, such as former Mayor Susan Hammer, campaigning for him. You get a full picture of the former prosecutor whose dedication to public service has led him to this point. He is independent, and he will be an honest and ethical mayor. This is the message of the campaigns on his behalf.
Dave Cortese looks to the past — and his supporters running independent expenditure campaigns are almost exclusively unions: local police, firefighters and retirees and an array of state and even national labor organizations spending $700,000 since the primary, mainly trying to to scare the daylights out of residents.
Cortese implies all the budget cutting since he left the council was somehow unnecessary, even though the city still is projecting a budget deficit next year. He preaches hope for a better future, but it’s a false hope based on financial practices that got San Jose into the quagmire that still holds it back.
Liccardo is an optimist who is realistic about budget challenges and does not pander.
It’s important to look at all the campaign material — and who’s paying for it. But also look up facts. For instance, as reporter Robert Salonga wrote this week, San Jose always has had the lowest level of violent crime among comparable cities; it is not mayhem central, as pro-Cortese mailers would have you believe.
As to low police staffing — yes, pension reform and pay cuts, since restored, are part of the problem. But the police union has done everything it can to drive officers out and to discourage recruits. It is part of the fear campaign. Mailers from the police and firefighters are among the most irresponsible.
Cortese slams Liccardo for his support from “out-of-towners.” These would be Silicon Valley tech leaders who employ city residents, do business here and decide where to locate expansions. He has called them “carpetbaggers.” But state and national unions pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into his campaign are … just good citizens? Duly noted.
Liccardo’s relationships with valley leaders, business and otherwise, are part of what makes him the mayor for the future.
One example: When the city was so strapped that it couldn’t subsidize Christmas in the Park a few years ago, Liccardo called on those tech relationships to pull together what’s now the annual Santa Run. It saved the day, and it’s now a new holiday tradition.
Cortese has relationships, too. With unions.
Union mail pieces misrepresent Liccardo’s positions on issues. He was not against raising the minimum wage, for instance. He favored phasing in the 25 percent hike, as San Francisco did, to help small businesses. He supports the city’s living wage ordinance, just opposed an expansion of it, along with a majority of the council.
Our favorite is the claim that he voted to disband the burglary unit. What a crock. Liccardo voted to back the police chief at the time, Chris Moore, who said officers on patrol were a higher need. Moore now supports Cortese, who presumably would have had the wisdom to reject his advice.
The unions’ campaign for Cortese has mostly slimed Liccardo. But Liccardo’s campaign and the independent expenditures on his behalf largely take the high road. That says a lot about his character, and the character of his supporters. He can pull San Jose together and lead to a better future.