By Robert Haugh
This week, ballots are landing in Santa Clara for the March 5th primary election.
The big election issue in the Mission City is Measure B. That’s the effort to eliminate the right of Santa Clarans to elect the Police Chief.
The Yes on Measure B campaign has not reported having any events.
The No on Measure B had a campaign event on January 27.
Santa Clara News Online (SCNO) has not seen any lawn signs for the Yes campaign but numerous lawn signs are up for the No campaign. That’s usually a good way to gauge grassroots support (or lack thereof) for Santa Clara campaigns.
Both campaigns have websites up.
You can click this link for the Yes campaign.
You can click this link for the No campaign.
Measure B is also playing a role in the race for Assembly District 26 being vacated by Assemblyman Evan Low to run for Congress.
Low has endorsed his top staffer Patrick Ahrens who is opposing Measure B.
“Holding public officials accountable is important and reforms are needed to make the process more transparent and responsible to the public, however, I support the right of our community and public safety officials to elect our police chief in Santa Clara. They know best what Santa Clara needs to remain a safe city,” stated Ahrens.
The other major candidate in the race is Tara Sreekrishnan.
Sreekrishnan answered numerous emails from SCNO but would not identify her position or answer questions about reports that she is helping the Yes campaign.
Only after SCNO’s original deadline did Sreekrishnan send an email with this answer: “I am not weighing in on this measure at this time. My campaign is not handing out Measure B materials.”
Sreekkrishnan does have the support of the elected officials who signed the Yes campaign’s ballot arguments and are the leaders of the effort:
- Councilmember Suds Jain
- Councilmember Raj Chahal
- SCUSD Trustee Michele Ryan
It’s worth watching if Sreekrishnan changes her publicly stated position or activities and if Measure B plays a bigger role in the Assembly District 26 race.
SCNO will provide periodic updates on both campaigns.
[…] week, Santa Clara News Online (SCNO) ran a Measure B campaign story with a photo of the Yes Campaign’s […]
Robert, thanks for sharing websites of both websites.
The elect website is just a single page without click-throughs to substantiating sources. It’s also funded by a million-dollar PAC, the Santa Clara Police Association PAC.
The appoint website is a lot more robust with active links to supporting sources like the Mercury News endorsement, the City of Santa Clara’s official Charter Review Webpage, local news articles, endorsements, and “Police Leadership Testimony.” The leadership testimony page has YouTube links to those individual presentations and testimony. https://www.appointpolicechief.com/team-1 The Appoint side also seems to be solely grassroots, local resident supported and funded.
Commentator Andrew noted the Appoint side’s use of quotes from deceased former Police Chiefs but that’s not an issue, nor is it shameful. Some of you might be aware February is Black History Month and just about everybody who recognizes it quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. and other notable figures of the Civil Rights Era, many of them are dead as well. To the Appoint side’s credit, they’ve provided a link to former police chief’s archived interviews that they reference: https://cdn.svvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/26124315/1993-mercury-vote-on-elected-police-chief.pdf
A still living retired Santa Clara Chief of Police, Stephen Lodge, submitted a letter to the Silicon Valley Voice in 2018 stating, “Santa Clara – the only city in the state that elects the chief, has created the opportunity for a first line supervisor, who does not qualify for advancement beyond his current position, nor the opportunity to run for chief in any other city, to run for chief.” https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-from-steve-lodge/
Lodge’s letter also referenced deceased former Police Chief Ferguson, not as an endorsement but rather a note of history just as the Appoint Police Chief side seems to be doing. The same letter also referenced still living former Chief’s Vasquez and Arolla. Arolla wrote a letter to the 2023 Charter Review Committee supporting an Amendment to the City Charter.
From the beginning of the CRC examination, the Appoint side has offered independent research, expert witness testimony, and they have endorsements of community organizations like the NAACP, Asian Law Alliance, and Asian Americans for Community Involvement. Members of the CRC who recommended the ballot measure and speakers in favor of apppointing the police chief appear to be much better educated professional than the elect side. Given all of this and the fact that every other city in California has appointed thier Chief of Police since the early 1900s, I support YES on Measure B. And I also support YES on Measure A, that one is a no-brainer – just watch the current City Clerk’s video testimony http://www.AppointCityClerk.com
Ha! Ha! Lodge led the Charter Review Committee in 2016 to KEEP the elected police chief to save his Chief appointee Mike Sellers. Funny how being elected worked for those past police chiefs….and now Lodge has a problem with it?? Things that make you go hmmmm….,and let’s not forget about all the pension funds they left with lining their pockets.
Why is the Yes on Measure B campaign using former chiefs of police who have passed away as endorsements? Shameful!
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/mercurynews/name/donald-ferguson-obituary?id=8304651
Didn’t Disgraced Dominic Caserta use dead people as endorsements in his run for supervisor?
Well that’s not fair. Biden just talked to him and confirmed his endorsement.
Donate to No on B at electthechief.com
Don’t let the 49er 6 (Including the CM), and featuring an indicted councilmember facing prison in the starring role, steal our rights as proud Santa Clara Citizens to vote for our police chief and hand this decision to Jed York and Manco.
I just parted with $200 to the effort to save our elected chief campaign. if you want to keep voting for our chief, please consider sending a donation to the No on A campaign. We will NEVER get this right to vote back if we give it up now and will never have an independent chief again.
No on A is about keeping our Elected City Clerk.
No on B is about keeping our Elected Chief of Police
Both important. The more we can keep out of the hands of the 49ers, the better. If Elected Dog Catcher was on the ballot, I would figure out what the 49ers wanted and vote the other way…..
Life can be pretty simple sometimes….
The 49ers want you to turn right, you turn left. They want you to sit, you stand. They tell you to vote Yes for A, you vote No for A.
It does not get any simpler than that.
Vote No on A
Vote No on B
But what do I know? I don’t even qualify to serve my City as a Volunteer Parks and Recreation Commisioner!! Well at least according to our Current 49er Council.
If you love trivia like I do… imagine actually also being the answer.
Burt Field
Sreekrishnan swayed Suds Jain to do a dual endorsement after Suds said he’d endorse Ahrens. Word is Suds negotiated a trade for the endorsement and Sreekrishnan would deliver Yes on A and B materials while walking and talking. Anyone find any Yes on A and B materials along with Sreekrishnan materials? Let Robert know!
So being appointed makes you more professional? That’s so ridiculous…..
I guess all elected people are non-professional. Well, in our council there are some examples but that is a big slap at every sheriff in CA.