By Sarah Lombardo
The candidate forums for the City Council elections have just begun, and already there is controversy. But it isn't tax or development issues that have the candidates at odds; it's the candidate forums themselves.
Two of the four candidates for City Council say they will not attend any forums sponsored by political action committees; the other two candidates say PACs are people, too.
"I don't believe PACs have a place in Saratoga politics," said Stan Bogosian, who along with Jim Shaw was absent from the Realtors Forum on Sept. 18. The forum was sponsored by the Los Gatos-Saratoga district of the Peninsula-West Valley Association of Realtors. "I wasn't interested in [the association's] endorsement," Bogosian said.
Shaw said he was trying to make a statement about local politics in Saratoga.
"I don't think we need to have the influence of PAC contributors," he said. "I'd like to see campaigns that are financed by the individuals of the city." Candidate Beth Wyman and incumbent Ann Marie Burger said they will attend any forum to which they are invited if it means a chance to interact with voters.
"I think PACs are people, and the City Council candidate's job is to be available to the people," said Wyman. "They're a group of people just like the homeowners groups are people." Wyman said she thought attending all the forums was important because it gives both the voters and the candidates a chance to exchange ideas, even if they do not agree on some issues.
"I think [candidates'] responsibility is to listen to all of the people, whether or not they agree with what they say," she added.
Burger said she looks forward to meeting with all segments of the community. "I welcome the opportunity to speak to everyone in the community," she said. "This is a time-honored tradition that candidates attend all forums."
Burger also said she did not agree with Bogosian and Shaw's argument that PACs had no place in Saratoga politics.
"I feel very strongly that we should be appearing before all segments of the community," she said. "These people who are the Board of Realtors are the people who help us buy our homes, sell our homes. . . . They're our neighbors."
Eric Morley, public affairs director for the Peninsula-West Valley Association of Realtors, said that although the association does have a PAC and has previously supported candidates, he does not understand the implication that a PAC endorsement means bad news for Saratoga.
"The association represents about 500 Realtors who live and work in Saratoga," said Morley. "They are concerned with keeping Saratoga the way it is now, because that is what makes Saratoga so attractive."
Morley said members of the association are concerned with the same issues as any other voter in Saratoga: taxes, schools and public safety. Morley said the refusal to attend the Realtors Forum came as a shock to him.
"It kind of surprised me that candidates wouldn't want to dialogue with constituents," Morley said. "If that's any indication of their responsiveness to Saratogans, I'd be concerned."
All four candidates did attend a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters at the Senior Center also held on Sept. 18. But Bogosian said he will not attend a Sept 30 forum sponsored by the Good Government Group because he considered the group a PAC.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, September 25, 1996.
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