Supervisors felt compelled to address a campaign survey put out
by sheriff candidate and Undersheriff Pat Turturici due to concerns
that citizens might think it was conducted by San Benito County and
paid for by taxpayers.
Supervisors felt compelled to address a campaign survey put out by sheriff candidate and Undersheriff Pat Turturici due to concerns that citizens might think it was conducted by San Benito County and paid for by taxpayers.
That campaign piece – called the “San Benito County Public Safety Survey 2010” – first went out by mail and was delivered door to door by campaign workers to homes in the Ridgemark gated community. From there, it went out randomly to the entire county, said Turturici campaign manager Rick Rivas. In total, the campaign expects to spend $4,500 in delivering 6,500 surveys, he said.
The survey follows election laws because a return envelope attached to it includes a small disclaimer at the top left corner – under the bold type saying “San Benito County 2010 Safety Survey” – which reads “Turturici for Sheriff”, along with a P.O. Box address.
That same envelope has a return address printed on it that has “San Benito County” on the first line, followed on the second line with “2010 Safety Survey” and then the P.O Box address.
A California Fair Political Practices spokesperson confirmed that such pieces are in line with the law as long as mass mailings – of more than 200 – include mention of the campaign. There is no requirement to include the campaign on the survey when going door to door, the FPPC confirmed.
The survey itself and a note attached to it from Turturici, however, exclude any mention of the undersheriff running for office and the questionnaire also includes the bold headline at the top with San Benito County in the survey title. The 11-question survey concludes by noting, “Thank you for completing the 2010 Public Safety Survey.”
Turturici is facing Watsonville police Lt. Darren Thompson in the November election.
The survey includes questions on such topics as how safe residents feel in the county, rating the overall effectiveness of the sheriff’s office, how accessible the office has been, emergency response times and top public safety priorities, among others.
In response, Supervisor Pat Loe brought up the topic at the recent board meeting and wanted to clarify to the public that the survey was not developed or put out by the county. Board Chairman Reb Monaco agreed with her intentions, as did others. Top elections official Joe Paul Gonzalez also had heard complaints from residents and looked into the matter to ensure the county did not fund it, he said.
Loe could not be reached immediately before press time regarding the survey.
But Supervisor Margie Barrios stressed after the meeting that the board wanted to make sure the public was not “misinformed.”
“The public does need to know it did not come from San Benito County,” Barrios said. “That does need to be very clear.”
When asked about the survey for this story, Turturici’s first response was, “That’s great.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to do,” he went on.
He pointed out that when a resident receives the survey in the mail, it includes his campaign title on it.
When asked where it was on the survey, Turturici handed the phone to a campaign representative, and she pointed out it was on the return envelope, in the top left corner, with the piece.
The undersheriff then explained how the campaign mailed it out and that its workers are going door to door to see if residents filled out the survey.
“I want to find out what the citizens are concerned with regarding public safety,” he said.
Turturici at that point directed the Free Lance to Rivas for further questioning.
Rivas said the purpose of the survey is to improve local services. He said at no point in San Benito County history has a prior sheriff candidate conducted a “thorough survey” on what people think about public safety.
He called it a “great idea” and noted how Turturici would build a package of initiatives while considering the survey results.
Rivas pointed out how the campaign after launching the survey added the note attached to it from Turturici.
“I’m proud of San Benito County’s public safety record and I’m committed to making sure our streets remain safe,” Turturici wrote in the letter.
Said Rivas: “I wanted people to feel this is a local thing, that it wasn’t a campaign ploy, because it’s not.”
Thompson could not be reached immediately before publication.
