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Candidates trade accusations about questionable campaigning
By Kate Carter
Although they've been polite about it, District 6 city council candidates Kris Cunningham and Ken Yeager have been taking a few swipes at one another as the race closes in on election day.
At the Oct. 11 candidates' forum, Cunningham accused Jim Spence, a San Jose Police sergeant and Yeager backer who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in the primary, of violating police guidelines.
With Spence standing in full uniform at the back of the auditorium, Yeager told the audience that his former opponent has endorsed him and pointed to Spence.
Cunningham then criticized Spence for showing up in uniform at the forum, which she said was a violation of police policy because Spence was appearing at a political event.
Spence, however, told The Resident it was OK for him to attend the event because it was actually a regularly scheduled Willow Glen Neighborhood Association meeting--the kind of event police are encouraged to attend. He added that Cunningham didn't have her facts straight about police regulations.
Cunningham said one of her supporters called police about Spence's presence and was told that it wouldn't happen again. Cunningham later said that she didn't want to cause problems by her accusation, but that it was important to let people know the truth.
Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Dixon told The Resident that officers are not supposed to appear at political forums in uniform unless they are there for security purposes.
On another issue, Yeager criticized Cunningham for burning her political bridges before she even entered office. Yeager said that a recent Cunningham campaign piece may have made it difficult for her to work with the mayor and the police department in the future.
The campaign flyer criticizes Mayor Ron Gonzales for assigning Spence to a key police task force after Spence threw his support behind Yeager, whom the mayor also backs.
Cunningham said, "Everything I have said has been the truth, and I believe that has been my legacy to this district."
She dismissed the comment about her relationship with the mayor by saying they get along with one another "just fine."
The two candidates have also traded accusations about the Willow Glen Business and Professional Association.
It started when John Karamanos, the association's second vice president and owner of The Glen, put together the association's latest business directory, which was distributed to Willow Glen homes.
The booklet included a full-page ad for Yeager that was paid for by Yeager's campaign. After the directory was distributed last month, Cunningham suggested in a Sept. 12 letter to the association that she had been deliberately excluded from the publication.
"Unfortunately," Cunningham wrote, "a strong supporter of my opponent was in charge of ad solicitation and I understand that sometimes these things happen in politics."
The association's next newsletter accused Cunningham of "soliciting business endorsements for her candidacy." It said that a member of Yeager's campaign staff saw an invitation to advertise in the directory at a public place and was not specifically invited to do so by Karamanos or the association.
"The inference that a member of the WGBPA purposely omitted a candidate from advertising in the business directory is entirely false," the newsletter said. The newsletter was distributed by the business association to all Willow Glen residents with a menu for The Glen and a list of upcoming entertainment there.
Cunningham told The Resident that the business association should have informed her about the advertising opportunity once they were approached by Yeager's campaign, to be fair and to appear not to endorse either candidate.
Karamanos said that he was out of town when Yeager's campaign bought an advertisement, and that his assistant handled the last-minute request.
But Cunningham supporter Phil Rossignol said that he is contacting the Internal Revenue Service, suggesting that the business association may have violated the restrictions of its tax-exempt status by not extending the invitation to advertise to both candidates.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
