Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Campaigner Bob Hamilton

'Good Government' says its purpose is information

Los Gatos Good Government group seems to have its sights set on Linda Lubeck

By Clarence Cromwell

A newly formed campaign committee in Los Gatos appears to have a single focus: opposing incumbent Town Council candidate Linda Lubeck.

Los Gatos Good Government, which filed papers with the town clerk Oct. 11, has expressed opposition to several issues Lubeck has supported, and the incumbent fears the group is preparing a hit piece for distribution prior to Election Day.

The committee is led by Robert Hamilton, who owns the Los Gatos Shade Shop and served as a Town Council member from 1986 to 1990. Hamilton identified himself as the treasurer and the committee's only member to date.

Registering with the town clerk as a campaign committee, however, indicates that Hamilton will seek contributions; if he were working alone, he could legally pay for political ads out of his own pocket without reporting the transactions or identifying himself in the ad.

Although he described Good Government's purpose as "informational" when reporting to the town clerk, Hamilton declined to give the Los Gatos Weekly-Times any information about the group's goals or the type of information it will provide to the public.

He said he plans to either mail fliers or buy newspaper advertising related to the election, depending on how much money the group raises. Media attention to the group might change Good Government's advertising plans, however, Hamilton said.

He said it is unlikely Good Government will be around after the 1996 election.

Hamilton's actions so far indicate that Good Government's goals are more political than "informational." Hamilton said Good Government ads will use statements from his interviews with the candidates and comments made at Town Council meetings.

It appears likely that Good Government will target Lubeck because it asked other candidates to take positions on the very issues some of them criticized Lubeck about: the decision to levy a utility tax without a citizens' vote, and the budgetary cuts of half a day's library service and one ranger position.

Candidate Jan Hutchins said Hamilton called to test his opinion on those issues. Hutchins told Hamilton that he would not have passed a tax without a vote and would have looked for cuts other than those the council made this year, he said.

Egon Jensen, council candidate and a former Los Gatos mayor, said he got an answering machine message from Hamilton, but hadn't spoken with him when the Weekly-Times inquired.

Lubeck said she hadn't been contacted by Good Government, but she heard "through the grapevine" that the committee would be campaigning against her.

Lubeck fears a "hit piece"--an advertisement or flier fired off so close to polling time she won't be able to respond to it. Hit pieces can often be traced to political groups that materialize late in the election, and if Hamilton raises less than $1,000, he does not have to report it. Campaigns do not need to name individuals who contribute less than $100, and any payments made after Nov. 4 could be reported after Election Day.

Less than three weeks before the election, Good Government had not arranged for printing ads, but "something was being composed," Hamilton said.

An attack on Lubeck's budget and tax record would benefit candidates Frank Jones and Jensen, who have reported raising less than $1,000 each and are hammering Lubeck on those issues now. Jensen said he knew nothing of Good Government until Hamilton contacted him for an interview, and Jones said he'd neither heard of the group nor been called by them.

Jensen and Hamilton have been acquainted for years, having both held local office and been active in politics, according to Jensen. Hamilton contributed money to the anti-Measure C campaign that Jensen led last spring.

Hamilton refused to state which candidates Good Government will support or oppose. He likewise declined to say whether Good Government will distribute material attacking any of the candidates late in the election. He would not confirm or deny affiliation with Jensen or Jones or Councilmember Steve Blanton, who is working to oust Lubeck from the council.

Hamilton didn't want to give away his strategy to the other side, he said.

Hamilton did say that he was dissatisfied with the budget cuts the Town Council made this year.

"If we're at such a critical place that we need to cut the library and ranger, something's wrong," he said. He charged that the council made harsh cuts to punish voters for not approving the utility tax.

Lubeck defended her budgetary decisions and the tax vote, just in case.

"The only way to respond is to answer the attack before the attack is made," she said. "At least people will have heard my side of the story ahead of time."

She said levying the utility tax was legal at the time--according to appellate court decisions--and she thought Los Gatans would support it.

"I heard enough people telling me to do it that it made sense to go ahead," Lubeck said.

The state Supreme Court's ruling Sept. 28, 1995, against the county's Measure A validated Proposition 62 and required a simple majority vote to approve all general-fund taxes that had passed in the previous three years. That's when the Town Council put the utility tax on the ballot as Measure C. A majority of Los Gatans voted against the tax in March.

The budget cuts made this year were supposed to affect residents as little as possible, Lubeck said, but after five years of budget shortages, the town has finally cut to the bone.

"We're at the point now, no matter where you cut, the public is going to feel it," Lubeck said. "Until we get the streets fixed, everybody's going to suffer. Do I want to cut a half day at the library? No. But the streets are more important."