If Hollister City Council candidates have no desire or
willingness to tell the public where they stand, then they don’t
deserve the right to sit at the dais.
If Hollister City Council candidates have no desire or willingness to tell the public where they stand, then they don’t deserve the right to sit at the dais.
At the recent “Speed Campaign” event put on by the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce, just one council candidate – among five people in two races – showed up to speak to around 100 of the most influential leaders in the community. That was Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia, pursuing a fourth term representing District 3 on the south-central side. The luncheon was well attended in other races, such as those for District 4 supervisor, sheriff and the Gavilan board.
For whatever reason, though, underscored with the chamber event, a key opportunity to talk about economic development, there has been almost no campaigning from council candidates for the November general election.
At another subsequent, prominent, pre-election gathering – the San Benito County Farm Bureau’s forum at City Hall – just one other candidate joined Valdivia to inform the public about qualifications and ideas. That was Estevan Guzman, an electrician facing Marshal Robert Scattini and accountant Sergio Montanez in the race for District 2 council representing the west side.
Of the five council candidates, none of them have raised enough funds to do any serious campaigning. And most of them, through the end of September, had raised next to nothing. It has been an all-too-quiet election season when a frustrated public would rather hear the candidates’ ideas for creative solutions, how they plan to manage the budget, and strategies to dispel a complacency that has plagued the council for too many years.
It is a discouraging sign in a city with a disastrous budget situation, growing gang problems, a depressed economy, and an unemployment rate hovering in the mid- to upper teens.
How do they plan to spur job growth? What ideas do the candidates have to solve the budget crisis? We don’t know because none of them are saying anything, beyond the thoughtless mantra that candidates want to bring new businesses to Hollister, or the “jobs, jobs, jobs” baloney that infects just about every election for county board or city council.
It is a discouraging sign that the only challenger facing Valdivia – the Jovenes de Antano director who has accomplished nothing during her 12 years in office and largely contributed to the spiraling financial mess at City Hall – is the director of the Purple Cross Rx marijuana dispensary that has battled Hollister officials in court over its operation here. Challenger Scott McPhail has a clear agenda in a city that needs officials focused on more pressing issues.
Considering Valdivia’s failure to contribute toward any advancement and her central role during Hollister’s most disastrous budget years on record, we cannot endorse her for another four years on the council. She has had more than enough time to achieve goals and prove she’s not part of the problem.
Taking into account McPhail’s history, agenda and his lacking campaign activity, though, we can’t support his candidacy, either.
In District 2, we can only hope the lack of interest in the campaign process doesn’t necessarily point to an apathetic council member once the winner takes office. Because that is the last type of leader Hollister needs right now.
