Two Planning Commissioners, Jeannie Bruins (3rd from left) and Jon Baer (4th), to Run for Los Altos City Council 2012
Eight people presented themselves as candidates at the Town Crier‘s candidate training seminar on Saturday, April 21 in the Town Crier conference room. Rumor has it that there are as many as 13 individuals with intentions to run in the Los Altos City Council election this November.
Eligibility requirements: resident of the City of Los Altos; registered to vote. Here are the eight who have expressed intentions at the seminar.
- Jon Baer – Planning Commissioner
- Jeanne Bruins – Planning Commissioner
- Jan Pepper – former President, League of Women Voters
- Deb Hope – Retailer
- Larry Gardener – former councilman
- Ted Sorensen – attorney, real estate investor
- Megan Satterlee – current Council Member
- Anabel Pelham – Professor of sociology
Whoa! Lots of Paperwork Ahead & Visits to the City Clerk
The seminar started with Lee Clark, our part-time city clerk, skillfully walking the candidates through a one-inch packet of election paperwork. Through the run-up to the election the City Clerks, Mr. Jon Maginott and Ms. Lee Clark, will become your best friends!
You should file a 501 – Candidate Intention to Run – any time.
You should file a 410 – Statement of Organization – within 10 days of spending or raising $1,000.
There are several other forms. The City Clerk will get you started. The first key time window is the Nomination Period, which begins 7/16 and closes 8/10. Schedule an appointment with the City clerk to receive your nomination paperwork. Nomination requires you to collect at least 20 but no more than 30 signatures of City Los Altos residents, registered to vote in the City of Los Altos. The last day to become a candidate is August 10, but last minute action is not advisable.
You will return your nomination petition ALONG WITH your statement of qualifications
(Name, Occupation, optionally age, and a 200 word statement), and ALONG WITH an $1,800 check for your name and statement to appear on the ballot before August 10. Don’t wait ’till the last minute, because a few of your petitioners might not be verifiable, and you may need to keep looking for replacement petitioners.
As soon as the Nomination Period closes – August 10 at 5:01 pm – you can file a request to see your opponents nomination papers.
Sometimes candidates dispute the language of their opponents’ occupation listings.
RON PACKARD – Do Your Homework; Think from Both Sides
RON PACKARD (current Council Member) assigned a lot of homework. Basically he said to read the last years’ worth of city council and commission agendas and staff reports, to read all the Plans – Master, Bike, Park … and to view a years’ worth of available videos. Read the City Council Norms Handbook. Searching the LATC archives will help you get up to speed on issues. (We hope this website will also be helpful.) Remember that there are two sides to every issue. You don’t really understand an issue until you can make a great case for the opposing side.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: We hope you like working with Ron Packard. Who wouldn’t? He’s smart and funny, too. He has said for the second time that we’ve heard him say it … he hopes to be back on council in two years. In other words, starting this November, he will be off of council for the requisite two years and then will run again. Just to be clear, that is serious, not a joke. We have heard Ron say this on several occasions.
PAUL NYBERG – Verified Endorsements, the Citizen Letter Process
PAUL NYBERG (publisher of the Town Crier) explained the value of getting endorsements, but those should be WRITTEN and SIGNED endorsements. Send in your photo with the political celebrity who is supporting your candidacy to enhance the endorsement story. During elections the paper cannot publish letters to the editor from citizens who want to extoll you. It would make the paper look biased. Instead the paper has set up a process where it will print any letter up to 200 words long, at 20 cents a word – that is $40 for a full letter.
any letter up to 200 words long, at 20 cents a word – that is $40 for a full letter
ROY LAVE – Campaign Ethics
ROY LAVE (former Mayor) spoke on campaign ethics. Use facts, don’t just make emotional appeals. Remember that your supporters will expect you to maintain a level of integrity. Focus on issues, not personalities. Remember that if you conduct an antagonistic campaign, you could wind up seated on council with your former opponent – how will you work together? The most honorable behavior is to just talk about your qualifications, your opinions. That’s better than talking up the “faults” in your opponents. Discourage your supporters from starting a PAC for negative campaigning. Remember there are two sides to every issue. If you get elected, you will be representing the whole community. Please plan on living with your decisions … don’t EVER move away.
Discourage your supporters from starting a PAC for negative campaigning
