EDITORIAL |
Soon after the Salinas City Council voted 5-0 to impose new renter protections, it occurred to us that the November 5 election, way underway by the time the final drafts were formally adopted on Sept. 24, could also mean a referendum on the three final ordinances.
So we asked Salinas City Attorney Chris Callihan: if a new council were to take over, would they have the power to overturn the three ordinances that were likely to be approved in the next few weeks?
“Yes, a future Council can reverse the actions taken by a previous Council,” Callihan wrote in an email. “In this case, if the current Council adopts it a future Council could repeal the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.”
Anyone who watched the meetings leading up to the vote knows how contentious the issue was, how unhappy real estate agents, apartment managers and their allies were with the council members who voted to enact those renter protections: Tony Barrera, Anthony Rocha, Orlando Osornio, Carla Viviana González and Vice Mayor Andrew Sandoval, who presided over the meeting after Mayor Kimbley Craig recused herself due to a conflict of interest. And it so happens that Rocha, Osornio and González have completed their four-year terms, while Rocha and Osornio are seeking re-election.
There are a total of 14 candidates seeking office in the City of Salinas for the Nov. 5 election.
- District 1: Jose Luis Barajas and Alex Ayala (Councilwoman Carla Viviana González did not seek re-election)
- District 3 (which became vacant when Steve McShane resigned mid-term): Jesús Valenzuela, who was appointed after McShane departed; Margaret D’Arrigo Martin; Cary Swensen and David Massiounuve.
- District 4: Incumbent Councilman Orlando Osornio, former councilwoman Gloria de la Rosa, and Alberto Lomelí.
- District Area 6: Incumbent Councilman Anthony Rocha and Aurelio Salazar.
- Mayor: Dennis Donhue, Chris Barrera, and Ernesto González García.
Because the Voices staff is minimal these days, but hoped to provide at least some coverage in this important election, the team discussed the best way to approach the task. We thought asking important questions to all of the candidates so voters would be informed about their positions on these topics would be crucial. In striving for fairness to all of the candidates, the same questions were asked, and their answers were published with minor edits for grammar and style. Young Voices intern Isaac González was given the assignment, and he emailed the same question to all the candidates. They were initially given two weeks to respond, and eventually the deadline was extended to give more candidates the opportunity to have a say in this process. Eventually we received responses from Ayala, Valenzuela, Swensen, Lomelí, Rocha, Barrera and González-García. You can find all of their responses in a special landing page here.
The first question in the Young Voices questionnaire was: What is your position regarding the renters’ protections recently approved by a majority of the city council? Will you support a process to enforce them or will you advocate to repeal them? A pattern immediately became obvious: none of the “establishment” candidates responded to the survey. That is: Donohue, Barajas, D’Arrigo, De la Rosa, and Salazar. All of them have been endorsed by law enforcement, the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce, and by Protect Salinas, a PAC established by former Monterey County Supervisor Butch Lindley.
Perhaps there’s nothing nefarious about this lack of response. After all, these candidates are amassing thousands of dollars in donations, so perhaps they’re confident they don’t need any extra media support. D’Arrigo has raised $140,000, much of it from agricultural companies (her opponents have raised a paltry $21,000 among all of them). De la Rosa has raised $153,000, also from several agricultural entities such as Ocean Mist Farms and Organic Girl (Osornio has raised $27,000, and we can only assume Lomelí has raised nothing since he’s not filed a campaign expenditure report). Salazar has raised $127,000, also from agricultural interests and real estate outfits such as the California Real Estate Political Action Committee. Donohue has raised almost $330,000, also with a $5,500 contribution from the California Real Estate PAC. In fact, the California Real Estate PAC has “invested” $27,500 at least in this race, since it contributed the same amount to each one of the gang of five in this race.
Wanna know how much the gang of five has raised so far? At least $883,430. And that does not include the thousands that Protect Salinas is spending to support its candidates and against their opponents. At least $36,000 so far against Osornio, and at least $51,000 against Rocha.
What does this all mean? Perhaps nothing. Establishment, wealthy candidates such as Donohue and D’Arrigo don’t need news media to disseminate their message, at least not the way they used to. With all that money in the bank, it’s easy to see they can just rely on mailers (how many have you received so far?) and ads (De la Rosa is advertising heavily on KION). Why would they need to respond to a pesky survey that perhaps does not serve their interests?
From the perspective of this media organization, candidates should have been transparent with constituents and answer the questions, since they will be accountable not just to those who brung them (as Molly Ivins used to say) but to the entire electorate. If elected, will they take the opportunity to re-write laws and repeal the renters’ protections so many low-income families lobbied for? Or will they uphold the previous council vote and support the consolidation of these new regulations? Perhaps they did answer the question in one of those private gatherings organized for supporters, but isn’t this a question that deserves a public answer, given how much it impacts the community that has the least amount of resources to donate to candidates?
The election is less than one day away, so we guess we’ll find out the answer soon enough.
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