Editorial Editorial (September 10, 2004)

A council angle in Abe-Koga's mailer

It is difficult to understand city council candidate Margaret Abe-Koga's justification for not declaring that the cost of mailing 9,000-plus fliers to residents of the Mountain View-Whisman school district is not part of her city council campaign.

Abe-Koga, who was elected to the county Board of Education in 2002, explains in a guest opinion on this page that she used funds left over from that campaign to mail a small flier that extols her service on the county board. And while she said she will report the $2,800 expense to county and city election officials, she will not declare the mailer's cost as part of her city council campaign.

Others, including council member Greg Perry, disagree with her stance, arguing that the mailer had nothing to do with Abe-Koga's experience in her county office and everything to do with her city council race.

The concern about how Abe-Koga lists the mailer's cost is based on several factors. First, although as a Board of Education member Abe-Koga represents a wide area, the mailer was only sent to residents of the Mountain View-Whisman school district. She said she only had enough funds to mail to a select area in her district, rather than in other areas like Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Palo Alto, all communities she represents on the county board. Also, just days before residents received her mailer, Abe-Koga had filed her nomination papers to run for city council.

We question if the timing and the distribution of the mailer were coincidences. Sent only to city residents just as the election season was beginning, the mailer certainly took on the appearance of literature for her city council campaign.

As a person with considerable experience in the world of local government -- she is a former aide to Congress member Anna Eshoo, a member of the city's Human Relations Commission and a county education board member -- Abe-Koga must have a working knowledge of campaign guidelines, and understand their purpose.

If she accepts the $2,800 expense as part of her city council campaign, she will have that much less to spend toward the voluntary limit of $16,882 she agreed to. But voters will appreciate her full disclosure more than they will another mailer or lawn sign that she might buy with that money.

As it stands, the city's campaign rules do not have significant mechanisms for enforcement or penalizing. If Abe-Koga's actions are found to have violated those rules, she might only face having her name printed in local media. But in a race of six candidates for four seats, including two incumbents, that negative publicity could make the difference.

With only seven weeks remaining before Election Day, all candidates are thinking of legitimate ways they can effectively campaign to get their message to the most voters. Abe-Koga's flier should not be held against her, unless she continues to insist on not filing the expense with the city clerk for her council campaign.

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