Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Joanne Benjamin helped break ground for renovations at Cornerstone Shopping Center in 1992. Right of Benjamin is Bill Cilker; at far left, Carl Cilker and Elizabeth Cilker Smith.

Campaign Costs

Who foots the bills--and why?

By Clarence Cromwell

Larry Arzie is often recognized when he walks to the podium at a Town Council meeting to oppose expansion of a downtown restaurant. The dark-haired and genial merchant has been active in local business associations. He might even have sold furniture to some of the people here, from his 26-year-old home furnishings shop on N. Santa Cruz Avenue. And anyone unfamiliar with those endeavors probably has read one of his frequent letters to the council or local papers and witnessed his trips to the public podium to address the council, especially on issues that affect the downtown.

But the politicians recognize Arzie for another reason: He put $900 into council campaigns during the last four years.

Arzie is one of the four contributors who gave more than $750 to the current Town Council. Contributors are usually community leaders who care about the decisions councilmembers make and give $100 to $300 per election.

The contributions are, or course, legal--even community-minded, since candidates do need some money to send their message to voters.

The dilemma is that people who give money to candidates are often the same people the politicians will regulate when elected: the landowners and merchants who can't build, remodel or expand without the Town Council's permission; or they might also be groups representing such people.

Councilmembers, of course, say the money has no effect except taking care of their campaign debts.

Arzie said, in a phone interview, that his contributions are an incentive for candidates to do a good job, but he doesn't expect particular council actions in return.

"In a city manager form of government, there's nobody you can yell at and say, 'God damn you, you get off your ass'--so that's why I send them a check," Arzie said.

Those who know him describe Arzie as outspoken on matters of town politics and generous to local charities, but most of all, concerned about improving the downtown. And he's not happy with decisions of the current council and Planning Commission.

"There are 12 restaurants between Bean and Main Street," he said. "Go count them. That's a complete ghetto. It's a total burden on town services."

He said the Planning Commission and Town Council should be bringing upscale businesses into the downtown area. That would bring the area up to par with The Porch, his 9,000-square-foot, three-level home furnishing store on N. Santa Cruz--a place to pick up expensive knickknacks like a $2,650 painted French clock (circa 1860) or a $62 needlepoint throw pillow. Arzie and his partner, David Stonesifer, also decorate mansions of the Silicon Valley upper crust on the side.

Arzie won't be stuffing the linings of campaign war chests until councilmembers clean up their acts.

"The days of $500 each are over," Arzie said. "I'm just dissatisfied."

Arzie explains that he'll only give $100 per candidate this fall. The last two elections he gave $150 to $250 to most candidates who asked.

The Cilker family, owners of the Cornerstone shopping center at Blossom Hill Road and Los Gatos Boulevard, give money in the same league as Arzie. Bill Cilker Sr. and his daughter and son, Elizabeth Cilker-Smith and Carl Cilker, collectively gave $950 to the current council during the last two elections. The Cilkers asked permission to build an 8,000-square-foot retail building at the front corner of their shopping center at the Aug. 28 Planning Commission meeting.

There are contributors who apparently support candidates out of civic duty or friendship.

The Dorothy and Thomas Llewellyn family, who have known Steve Blanton since his high-school days, gave him $3,257 between 1990 and 1994. The contributions were in the names of the Llewellyns and their two daughters, Mary and Nancy. The $1,257 they gave Blanton in 1990 represents more than half what he raised that election. They also gave $250 to Joanne Benjamin in 1994.

Local doctor Sheldon Goodman wrote a single check for $999 to Mayor Randy Attaway in 1994.

Money needed

Most council watchers agree that candidates ought to raise $8,000 to $12,000 to get the word out.

This year, candidates had to pay the Santa Clara County registrar of voters $380 for printing their ballot statement. The councilmembers elected in 1994--Joanne Benjamin, Mayor Randy Attaway and Steve Blanton--spent an average of $4,784 on printing and mailing campaign literature. Attaway and Blanton spent $1,013 and $1,962 respectively for advertising in local newspapers, including the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

"Money's important because you want to get the word out," said Planning Commissioner Mike Abkin, who tried to capture one of the three open council seats in 1994 and lost.

Attaway explains: "What you need is a minimum amount to be on a par with the other candidates. In other words, if you don't send anything out [fliers, postcards, etc.], your odds are slimmer."

Is money bad?

Attaway says all that money doesn't effect his decisions; he lets contributors know his positions before he takes money and warns that he may vote against their interests.

"You're very clear up front: 'We may disagree, but this is the philosophy I have,' " Attaway said.

Elizabeth Cilker-Smith said her family's contributions to Attaway and other councilmembers buy access.

"It just helps to keep the lines of communication open," Cilker-Smith said. "They can't represent us well unless they know our issues. It's helpful to be able to place a phone call and be able to talk to them."

Cilker-Smith said she thinks of Town Council dealings as "a working friendship," rather than politics, but she expects councilmembers to disagree with her from time to time.

The Cilkers give money to any candidate who asks and don't expect anything in return, Cilker-Smith said.

Campaign money can have its influence, former Los Gatos Mayor Peter Siemens explained, although local politicians probably won't go so far as to sell a vote.

"Somebody gives you a reasonably good donation, you'll probably go out of your way to listen to what they want," said Siemens, a councilmember from 1978 to 1982 and mayor during 1981.

And if you do make a decision a contributor wouldn't like, you have to call up and explain why, he adds.

Any influence at the town level is in the eye of the beholder, says Councilmember Joanne Benjamin, but she prefers not to take contributions over $25 just to keep the dirt off her hands.

"There's so much distrust in government," Benjamin muses. "The more you can build trust in government the better. I want people to support me because they think I do a good job and make really logical, rational decisions."

Benjamin managed to raise $11,260 in 1994, despite her low ceiling on gifts. She was out-fundraised only by Steve Blanton, who pumped up his bank account to $19,961.

Benjamin did accept a few gifts above $25 and some of the contributors are on their way to the Council Chambers for permission to develop land in town. Benjamin accepted $500 from Regency Plaza International and $100 gifts from Mabel's Lantern restaurant, local landowner/restaurateur Eva (Diane) Ogilvie and developer Tom Yuki.

Ogilvie has been petitioning the town since the mid-1970s for permission to build a two-story hotel and shopping complex and 13 town houses at 210 E. Main St., the site of the La Strada Restaurant and Kerful Cleaners. To complete the project, she needs a zoning change, something only the Town Council can grant.

Yuki recently probed the town about the possibility of developing his family's walnut orchard on Los Gatos Boulevard in the northern reaches of town.

Winning without paying

Candidates don't necessarily need so much money to win, if they come up with creative ways to reach voters.

When Benjamin's first council campaign ran short of money, she pinched pennies by rounding up 60 friends to hand-deliver brochures to every house in Los Gatos, rather than mail them.

Blanton ran his 1990 campaign on only $2,520, with help from hoardes of friends.

Blanton walked precincts. People walked precincts for him. The West Valley Republican Women set up a phone bank that called people for him. And Blanton's mother, a graphic artist, handmade a dozen or so lawn signs for him.

Blanton beat an incumbent who outspent him almost 7-to-1.

"You can still win without it," Blanton says of campaign money. But he adds that he was "a lot less nervous in 1994," when he outgunned every other candidate in the fundraising battle.

This election, former KICU-TV newscaster Jan Hutchins swears he won't send out mailers asking for money, the most relied-upon source for most candidates. Hutchins--who may be the first to campaign on not campaigning--promises not to act out any of the political acts that sometimes irk constituents or raise their suspicions. That includes sending out the fliers to ask for money and knocking on constituents' doors to introduce himself.

It remains to be seen how much cash--or support, for that matter--Hutchins can raise by giving supporters the silent treatment, but he won't need as much as opponents because he plans to cut the most expensive campaign cost: printing and mailing fliers.

"Fliers end up in the trash," Hutchins says.

Hutchins will mail postcards to notify Los Gatans of his appearances in local parks and public places. Of course, if anybody offers to help, Hutchins says, he'll let them know that financial backing is one way they can pitch in.

The candidate tested his campaign scheme during a visit last week to the Town Plaza.

Hutchins turned a lot of heads with his egg-shaped, $8,000 electric campaign buggy and TV newsguy demeanor. Rolling onto the plaza lawn across from the GTE building, he introduced himself to a group of 20-something sightseers from Switzerland, Boston and San Francisco and tried out his German before inviting a pair of elderly ladies to take a picture with him.

"I don't think campaigns are that effective," Hutchins said. "I'd rather ride around in this egg car and start conversations."

Later he unveils his message in two words: "I'm different."

How different? That depends on who will give Hutchins money without being asked.