Mailer draws fire Mailer draws fire (September 03, 2004)

Abe-Koga's political leaflet not reported to city

By Jon Wiener

A political mailer from a city council candidate may run afoul of the city's campaign finance rules.

Margaret Abe-Koga said she used leftover funds from her 2002 campaign for the county Board of Education to send Mountain View residents a small flier detailing her accomplishments as a trustee. She is planning to report the expense to election officials at the county but not the city clerk.

But at least one city council member accused her of using the flier to promote her city council candidacy.

"That mailer had nothing to do with getting her elected to a county position. It was about getting elected to city council," said Council member Greg Perry.

He added, "If you're spending money to get elected to a city position you disclose it to the city. Anything else is trying to get around the rules."

Perry said he is not planning to talk to Abe-Koga about the mailer to see if he could convince her to view it differently.

Abe-Koga said she spent about $2,800 to send approximately 9,000 or 10,000 mailers to local residents. While she represents residents in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, the flier was sent only to residents who live in the Mountain View-Whisman School District, which covers most of Mountain View

The mailer does not specifically mention her campaign for city council, but promotes her name and accomplishments at a time when candidate signs are popping up around the city and candidates are engaging in a series of debates and forums.

Abe-Koga, who held her own campaign kick-off luncheon last Sunday, denied her council ambitions had anything to do with the flier, entitled "An Education Status Report." Instead, she said, she was waiting for the state budget to pass to make sure her information was accurate.

"I wanted to report to my community what I'd been doing for the last two years. You can compare it to the current city council members and what they do," Abe-Koga said. She specifically referred to mayor Matt Pear's "Share with Mayor Pear" events.

"If it had gone out to her whole constituency, it wouldn't have been that big an issue," said Council member Nick Galiotto, who is up for re-election this year. Galiotto stressed that he did not know whether Abe-Koga's mailer violated any state or city laws.

City Attorney Michael Martello was looking into the leaflet's legality at press time Wednesday.

Abe-Koga has a less than flawless record of meeting campaign finance and disclosure rules. She did not file any reports with the county last year, leading to a $100 fine. Abe-Koga said she had no changes in her campaign finances and did not know she had to file.

The city's campaign finance rules state that violaters will have their names published in the local press.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.comhr>

E-mail a friend a link to this story.