A small group of locals are ready to push forward with
establishing a campaign ethics committee after attending a
county-hosted workshop on the subject Friday.
Hollister – A small group of locals are ready to push forward with establishing a campaign ethics committee after attending a county-hosted workshop on the subject Friday.
More than a dozen people, including a handful of local elected officials and political appointees, attended the workshop. County staff gave information about how a group could go about creating a committee independent of the county government that will focus on ensuring candidates for elected office keep their campaigns clean.
“We just have to move forward with this,” Hollister resident Helen Ross said after the workshop, adding that she is tired of the county’s contentious, nasty political campaigns.
Friday’s one-hour workshop, which was facilitated by County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson, focused mainly on the many steps that need to be taken to form a legally-recognized nonprofit corporation that would constitute an ethics committee. County staff stopped short of giving legal advice or telling the attendees whether or not they should form a committee.
“It’s a noble goal, but it’s going to be a lot of hard work,” said county attorney Terra Chaffee, who gave a presentation about forming a nonprofit corporation.
Chaffee presented Santa Clara County’s Campaign Ethics Foundation – a nonprofit group not associated with the county government – as a possible model for a similar organization in San Benito.
Founded in 1998, the CEF was formed by Santa Clara County residents who were tired of negative political campaigns, according to Susanne Wilson, one of the founders.
After the workshop, Ross said that she immediately sent an e-mail to the CEF in hopes that someone from that organization will come down to San Benito to give some guidance on how to form an ethics committee here.
San Benito County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley was on hand for the workshop, and while being an elected official precludes his participation in putting together an ethics committee, Foley said he attended the workshop to support those who want to form a committee and offer input for how they might do so.
“I’ve been involved in elections in San Benito County as a candidate and a voter for a number of years, and I’ve been concerned about the incivility and turmoil surrounding local elections,” he said. “I think there should be some mechanism for correcting the most egregious violations.”
The idea of forming an ethics committee arose in August, 2004, a few months after a contentious race for the District 5 Board of Supervisors seat. Then-Supervisor-elect Jaime De La Cruz beat incumbent Bob Cruz and won the seat by 10 votes amid suspicion of election fraud and improper campaigning. Since that election, the ethics committee has been envisioned as an outlet for candidates to air concerns about political rivals who may use false or misleading information during their campaigns.
While supervisors have been generally supportive of the concept of a campaign ethics committee, they have made it clear they don’t want the county to have any hand in forming it because it could be construed as a conflict of interest – as the committee would also monitor supervisors’ campaigns for reelection. Also, supervisors do not want the county to share any liability should legal challenges be made against the decisions of the committee.
“The Board of Supervisors is not interested in being in charge of the process, but would be very supportive of any group in the community that wants to take that mission,” Thompson said during the workshop.
Friday’s workshop marks the end of the county’s involvement with the formation of an ethics committee.
But Ross said she, and at least two others, would push forward with creating a committee.
