Candidates bicker before election

(Printed Oct. 31, 1998, in Redwood City Independent)

By John Baker

Staff Reporter

Three days are left in a Redwood City Council special election campaign which a candidate said was the "sleaziest" he had seen in the city.

Ian Bain, Don Gibson and Colleen Jordan will be looking at Tuesday's vote tallies to see who will complete the remaining year in the seat resigned by Council Member Judy Buchan in late January. Bain has occupied the seat since a divided Council vote appointing him in February.

The winner of this election will have to run again in November 1999.

Supporters of Bain said last week that a letter supporting Jordan sent to Republican Party voters in Redwood City by council members Matt Leipzig and Jeff Ira improperly used the city logo and was designed to mislead voters.

The accusation follows an complaint earlier this month by Jordan that Bain was using the names of people who had not endorsed him in his campaign literature. Bain said in that case the people in question had switched sides and not informed him.

"This is the dirtiest, sleaziest campaign I've seen in Redwood City," Bain said. "It's completely inappropriate to be using (the city logo) for campaign purposes. It's an official city symbol that belongs to the people of Redwood City."

The letter has a copy of the Redwood City logo at the top and says that it is from "the offices of councilmen Jeff Ira and Matt Leipzig." At the bottom, the letters says it was not paid for at taxpayer expense and was funded by the Republican Party of San Mateo County.

"It's not (misleading)," Leipzig said. "It's from Jeff Ira and myself, that's the intention. It's clear as crystal that it's not official city stationary. It was to reach out to voters who would recognize one or both of our names in a favorable light and listen to the message that we have."

Bain said he felt the logo could indeed confuse potential voters.

"To me, this is clearly a misuse of an official city symbol, which implies that it's city business," said Bain. "This would be equivalent to having a police officer or firefighter wearing a uniform to campaign for a candidate. It gives the message an air of legitimacy which it does not have."

Meanwhile, the third candidate in the race said he is glad he's been kept out of the fray.

"The mudslinging ... is unfortunate," said Gibson. "It's a city council race and there's really no place for it. I think Ian's been more a victim than participant."

Some campaign observers also decried the injection of partisanship into an officially non-partisian race.

"Partisan politics, I think, makes caring for the community more difficult," said Vice Mayor Ira Ruskin, a declared Bain supporter. "There are so many problems with partisan politics at the state and national levels, why bring that to that city level? I'm sad to see it."

"Council races in Redwood City have been partisan for years," Leipzig said. "It's just a matter of what level and what honesty level."

Jordan -- whose campaign director, Terry Anderlini, is a registered Democrat -- said she felt Bain's camp was also catering to political parties. She said Bain had "no premise whatsoever" for his remarks and laughed out loud when told some in Bain's camp had criticized a letter directed specifically at Republicans.

"Can you quote that laughter?" Jordan asked. "Mr. Bain, who had Anna Eshoo and every Democratic leader in the area at his fundraiser in May? I mean, c'mon!"

She ridiculed Bain's assertion that he was the only one running a non-partisian campaign.

"So he has a couple Republican endorsements, so what? I have a couple of Democratic endorsements," Jordan said. "My campaign manager and my campaign chairman are both Democrats. This was letter that came from two councilmen. I didn't write the letter, I didn't pay for it -- my campaign paid for it."

Ira said he felt the letter was appropriate because it was really an attempt to target a certain group of voters, rather than an attempt to make the race partisan. In fact, a mailing promoting Jordan to voters of other party affiliations was sent out during the past week, according to the council member.

Ira said he supported Jordan because of her stands on the issues, rather than her party affiliation.

"I wouldn't advocate Colleen only because she's a Republican," he said. "(The letter) is just to target a certain group."

Although both Ira and Leipzig said the use of the logo was appropriate, Council Member Richard Claire, also a declared Bain supporter, said at Monday's council meeting that Redwood City needed to further develop an existing appropriate use policy for the logo.

"(The council needs a) policy to clearly state what can go out on things that look like, act like and smell like city letterhead," Claire said. "Legally, the individuals who sent the letter are OK, but I'd like in the future ... to pass an ordinance that city logos can not be used (for political purposes). It's unfortunate this happened."

The policy will likely be discussed at a November council meeting.

"It needs to be stated that all city symbols should be used only for council business," Bain said. "What Matt and Jeff did does not qualify as council business. It violated the intent, if not the letter, of the council policy."

Ira said he wouldn't fight an attempt to change the policy because, he said, the council had much more important things to worry about in the upcoming months.

"If they want to restrict it, that's fine with me," he said. "I don't think (the letter) gave an air that it was an official document or had a special power. With or without the logo it had the same impact that it was from Matt and me."

Leipzig also said the letter was part of a targeted mailing campaign for individuals who had similar views to himself and Ira, rather than a strictly partisan push.

"We were not trying to say the entire city council of Redwood City supports Colleen Jordan," he said. "We were not being misleading by sign Jim Harnett's name or Dick Claire's name."

Leipzig said he thought Bain might be over-reacting to a stronger than expected campaign by an opponent who, Leipzig said, sent out 35,000 pieces of mail last week.

"He's probably feeling a tremendous amount of heat because we have done a very good job in this campaign of communicating with people," Leipzig said.

Gibson said that despite the "mudslinging" he's seen this election, he will participate again next year whatever the results of this election.

"Overall I've really enjoyed it," he said. "I encourage other people to be involved, I've learned a lot about the city."

He said that his key issues are different from those pushed by Bain and Jordan. Gibson and his wife will be canvassing the neighborhoods this week in an effort to reach voters.

"I have kids in the system, I'm involved in the system ... fund raising, committees," he said. "I can give a better awareness of how valuable education is and how it really affects our community. It affects, crime, vandalism and the cost of community services."

Gibson said he was aware education was the school board's purview, but thought the board could use more city help.

"The school district is not getting there, people are looking for solutions," he said. "As a city council member, I will be a strong supporter of assisting the school district. Another thing that separates me from Ian and Colleen is having a vision, I'm not afraid to set ambitious goals for the city."