The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

No 'special interest'
money in Sunnyvale

Thanks for your article titled "Sunnyvale special interests shrug off reforms."

I was bothered to find out that more than $200,000 was given to Sunnyvale candidates by groups in the 2005 election for only three seats. I can't understand why they give so much money and then say they don't want anything for all that money. I think they should spend that money on something that they believe could help their members.

I believe like many Californians that money can influence politicians. I believe that special interest money influenced the Medicare bill which, as I understand it, makes it against the law for the government to negotiate lower prices on drugs. I also believe that special interest money has influenced our energy policy, which has made it possible for oil companies to make record profits while we are paying more and more for gas. These are a few examples of how the influence of special interest money has hurt average Americans.

I hope Sunnyvale residents will vote for the advisory measure that will be on the ballot this November, which would ask the Sunnyvale Council to look into enacting public financing of our campaigns. They have done this in Portland, Ore., and Albuquerque, N.M. I think that this is the best way for Sunnyvale to get special interest money out of our elections. I would be glad to pay $3 to $6 a year to make that happen in Sunnyvale.

Jeanne Lamar

Crawford Drive

Special interests
help themselves

Regarding Stephen Baxter's article on Sunnyvale special interest groups donating to council candidates, some of these groups who donate and have "the best interests of the city in mind when they support candidates" have got to be kidding. In my opinion, most special interest groups have only their own best interests in mind.

Why else would the Sunnyvale Public Safety Officers Association (PSOA) pass on educated, articulate and ethical candidates such as Chris Moylan and Otto Lee who have a long history of service to Sunnyvale and turn around and support candidates who, among other things, have filed bankruptcy, have had IRS tax liens and property tax liens filed against them, threatened to sue the city, sued the city with a frivolous lawsuit that cost the city tens of thousands of dollars to defend, been sued by the federal government for illegally accepting veteran's benefits, and have had their house foreclosed upon? And what about the candidates they support with little or no prior community experience? And how about PSOA supporting a council member with the worst attendance record ever in the history of Sunnyvale?

The reason is that PSOA does not like independent and intelligent candidates who think for themselves and try to do what's right for the city. They want puppets who will add to the six-figure salaries that most public safety officers in Sunnyvale enjoy with overtime and benefits.

And why do you think SUNPAC, a political action committee, is no longer a part of the Chamber of Commerce? It used to be that when SUNPAC was affiliated with the Chamber that small businesses within the community would donate to help elect business-friendly candidates. The Chamber cut ties with SUNPAC two years ago. Very few businesses who donated years ago give to this splinter group. Now it seems that most contributions for SUNPAC come from large developers. And for a representative of SUNPAC to say that "the group does not expect votes in return for campaign money" is totally flawed.

One of the board members of SUNPAC acts as a very well paid consultant to a large percentage of the donors to SUNPAC and this board member and her family have personally given more than $5,000 to the current council. This individual has also hosted fundraisers for many council members. And it gets better--the board member is the assistant treasurer to a council member. And she isn't expecting the council to vote for her projects?

These special interest groups need to start telling the truth about their motives. The public expects nothing less.

Yolanda Risch

Sunnyvale