If the statement fee for Gilroy school board candidates is
raising eyebrows, the fee for Gavilan board candidates’ statements
is making eyes pop and throats catch.
If the statement fee for Gilroy school board candidates is raising eyebrows, the fee for Gavilan board candidates’ statements is making eyes pop and throats catch.
Candidates will pay $3,030 to run a 200-word statement in the San Benito and Santa Clara County ballots for the Nov. 2 election. Current trustees say the price is a steep increase from the last time they ran, when it cost less than half that amount.
Those up for another term – all of whom say they’ll run again – say the high cost could keep them from even filing a statement, if no one files to contest them.
“That’s an astonishing jump from four years ago, it’s got to be discouraging people from wanting to run,” said Tom Breen, a trustee from the Hollister area who will run for a second term.
Filing opened Monday for the Gavilan College Board of Trustees race. Three seats are up for grabs, one each in the Gilroy, Morgan Hill and San Benito County areas.
As of press time Friday, no one had formally entered the race.
“I’ve got my papers, I just need to fill them out and turn them in,” said Breen, 68, a retired judge.
Mark Dover, who is completing his first term representing the Gilroy area, also says he will run for re-election. Morgan Hill Trustee Leonard Washington’s seat is also up in November, but he could not be reached before press time.
Whether Gavilan board candidates decide to pay the $3,030 fee to file a statement remains to be seen.
Gavilan board candidates traditionally have picked up the statement filing fee, President Steve Kinsella said.
Because the Gavilan College district covers both South Santa Clara and San Benito counties, they must file in both areas.
“It’s an at-large election, even though representatives are designated in an area,” Kinsella said. “They have to live in the area, but the vote does occur across both counties since we’re a joint county district.”
The high price for a ballot statement comes mostly from Santa Clara County’s Registrar of Voters, which charges a $2,580 fee for a 200-word statement. In the last election in 2002, it cost $880.
San Benito is charging $450, as it did last election cycle.
The reason for Santa Clara’s three-fold price increase for Gavilan candidates: Candidates are paying for their statements to be printed in three additional languages.
Before this election, the federal government required that the county print its ballots in both English and Spanish, the cost of which was covered by the candidate’s statement fee. County supervisors paid to also translate the ballot into Chinese and Vietnamese.
“We are federally mandated now, after the 2000 census, to do five languages,” said Shannon Bushey, candidate and public services division manager for the county registrar.
Translations into Chinese and Vietnamese, along with Tagalog, are now required.
“That’s translating, formatting, printing – that’s why it’s gone up so much,” Bushey said.
Dover, 38 and lifetime Gilroy resident, said he might not submit a statement if he is unopposed, as Deb Smith was in 2002’s election.
“If someone else is running, I’m going to have to file one for sure, to let people know what’s been going on the last four years, that we haven’t just been sitting on our hands,” said Dover, a Gavilan graduate who teaches in North Monterey County. “It’s never been cheap because you have to file in both counties.”
The candidates also might explore other options besides filing a statement in the ballot, Breen said, such as publishing their platforms in letters to the editor.
“If somebody’s unopposed, then maybe they wouldn’t be inclined to file a statement,” Breen said. “That takes away from the election process because even if nobody’s running against you, I think it wouldn’t know your beliefs.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if somebody runs against me,” Breen said, although he’ll probably file a statement.
“People need to know if there’s a difference between the candidates.”
Because the fee increase was based on census numbers, Bushey said she doubts candidates will see another substantial hike in the near future.
“Basically, the increase from now to the next census would be printing costs,” she said. “But I would not expect them to triple like this.”
Three seats also are available on the Gilroy Unified School District board, those of John Gurich, Bob Kraemer and Jaime Rosso.
As of press time Friday, only Kraemer had formally entered the race, although Rosso and Gurich have indicated they will seek re-election.
Kraemer, a Gilroy resident for more than 30 years, volunteers nearly fulltime, serving on the GUSD school board and as president of the Bonfante Gardens board of directors and Leadership Gilroy. He was appointed to the board in 1999 to fill a vacancy and was elected the following year.
