The recent filings of final local campaign finance statements
for the November election included some startling numbers. The
bottom line is that big money has become a big part of San Benito
County politics.
The recent filings of final local campaign finance statements for the November election included some startling numbers. The bottom line is that big money has become a big part of San Benito County politics.
Consider that the losing side in the “Yes On Measure S” campaign spent $1.1 million trying to convince voters to exempt developer Del Webb’s proposed 4,400-home senior community from the City of Hollister’s annual cap on building permits. Local political watchers said they couldn’t recall another campaign even remotely so costly.
The money spent in the race for the District 4 seat on the Board of Supervisors also raised a lot of eyebrows. Documents filed by incumbent Reb Monaco show he spent $53,510 in defeating challenger Tracie Cone.
Again, local political observers said that was a record amount for a local office. And Monaco said it cost him nearly twice as much to win in 2006 as he spent the first time he ran for supervisor four years earlier.
The worry becomes whether the soaring cost of campaigning will prevent good candidates who don’t have deep pockets – or whose supporters don’t – from seeking local office.
What Monaco spent on last year’s Board of Supervisors campaign was approximately $10,000 more than his elected job pays in annual salary. Anyone contemplating a run for supervisor would surely have to consider this equation.
San Benito County is a much different place that it was 15 or 20 years ago. When San Benito was a more rural place with fewer issues and problems to deal with, members of the Board of Supervisors had fewer real responsibilities.
But following the boom of the 1990s, when San Benito was California’s fastest-growing county, being a supervisor has essentially become a full-time job, with increasingly complex responsibilities.
It’s more important than ever that we have people with the skills, the ideas and the time to do the job. And we would hope that those people, once in office, would be there to serve the best interests of the community, not just the interests of those who bankrolled their campaigns.
One step toward this end would be to raise supervisors’ pay to a level at least equal to the median household income in San Benito County. This wouldn’t completely insulate anyone from the influence of political money, but it should result in a larger pool of capable candidates who won’t have to worry about making a personal financial sacrifice in order to serve the community.
The ability to raise money for a high-cost campaign and a willingness to work for relatively low pay shouldn’t be the two determining prerequisites for holding local political office.
