Voting Matters Too!

LEGAL MATTERS COLUMN FOR NOVEMBER 2, 2007


By Steve Gizzi

VOTING MATTERS TOO!

Legal Matters matter – but so do some other things. If you only like to read this column to learn about all things legal, you may want to sit this one out because this disclaimer is about as “legal” as it’s going to get. This week Scott’s going to take the week off and our column is going to divert a bit into an area of something else that matters – politics and voting.

By now, you’re probably looking forward to Tuesday’s election if for no other reason than the campaign signs will come down and your mailbox will at last be free from all of those fancy, multi-colored flyers. By my calculations, I figure the candidates must have spent about $500 on each voter this election season. That’s a far cry from the $4500 I spent the first time I ran for City Council in 1992. Those of you in town at that time may also recall the national news story that resulted from that election when I lost by ONE vote out of over 11,000 cast, to my formidable opponent, Pepe Arteaga.

I like to remind people of the one vote story at election time to impress upon them just how important their one vote is. This is a particularly important story in a small town such as ours. Many don’t vote unless it’s a state or national election. But the reality is that those in our local City Hall have a much greater effect on our daily lives than those far off politicians in Sacramento and Washington. Questions like: How much will we pay in taxes and assessments? How confident are we that our children’s education will be adequate and that school resources will be fairly and effectively allocated? Are city services responsive? No one deals with these issues more effectively and directly than our local representatives. They are our neighbors - not remote elected officials with a soundbite who couldn’t find Benicia without a map or a GPS. One vote DOES matter – and nowhere does it matter more than when it is cast in a local election.

I’ve been off the City Council for five years now and have not run a campaign in about eight years. As I recall, my total expenses in that last campaign were about $12,000. I’m amazed at how dramatically campaigns have changed in that time and how expensive they’ve now become – about five times as much. As an observer, it seems like such a waste of money. But the problem is that to be competitive, you have to match what your opponent is spending and that becomes a vicious cycle that only the printers and media outlets benefit from (sorry, editor). The unfortunate thing is that, like the big elections, with all that money being thrown around it’s hard to hear beyond the sound bites. (Er…of course, maybe that’s the point.)

Because our law firm serves as special counsel to the City of Benicia, we have a policy of avoiding any formal campaign endorsements. There are several great candidates in the race and we hope you’ll take the time to get educated about who they are – beyond the pretty pictures (some of our favorites are not so pretty actually) – and what each represents before you vote. It really is worth the five minute time investment every two years to get to know the candidates that you’re going to entrust with our wonderful community. As a general guideline, I hope you choose candidates that are willing to represent the entire community and not just a select constituency. Think about selecting candidates who will thoughtfully consider matters brought before the Council and then vote based on the issue presented and not personalities or other biases. Only this kind of approach will result in a governing body that will exercise the proper custodial stewardship and care to properly and thoughtfully guide us through the next several years.

Whoever are your choices for City Council and Mayor, please take the time to vote next week – or vote absentee, because your vote really DOES count. Just ask Pepe.