BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
The No on Measure V campaign paid $9,600 to a retired San Mateo pastor to organize other ministers into opposing the Menlo Park ballot measure that would block apartments from being built in areas zoned for single-family homes. The Yes on V side called the move “gross and offensive.”
Rev. Penny Nixon, a minister at the Congregational Church of San Mateo, was paid the $9,600 by advocacy group Menlo Together, which is assisting the No on V campaign, according to financial forms filed with the city clerk’s office.
Rev. Nixon reached out to other ministers she has worked with in the past, and got them on board to come out against Measure V by speaking with them.
Rev. Nixon said the matter of affordable housing for all and Measure V is “not a faith issue, but a civic issue.”
“It’s my humanity that tells me this is a bad issue and bad policy. The faith angle is that we are all called to shelter people and care for our neighbors so we have a more equitable world and heal what is wrong with it,” Rev. Nixon said regarding her work on the Measure V campaign.
Pam Jones, one of the leaders of Menlo Together, said that since religious groups historically have been part of the social justice movement, it made sense to hire Rev. Nixon to get churches involved in this issue.
Jones said she is sure Rev. Nixon would have worked on the campaign for free but thinks it is important for people to be compensated for their work.
Evelyn “Evvy” Stivers, the head of the Housing Leadership Council, one of the primary backers of the No on V campaign, said the idea of using leaders from different faiths is an attempt to get voters to “connect to their moral right and wrong and open up their hearts to think about affordable housing in a more compassionate way.”
Stivers said some congregations Rev. Nixon spoke to were already concerned because their properties could be affected by Measure V, so one thing Rev. Nixon did was to inform them of the potential impacts of Measure V.
“That Menlo Together paid a reverend to get endorsements from faith leaders to oppose Measure V is gross and offensive. Religion shouldn’t be misused in this way. The No campaign is trying to portray a ‘holier than thou’ image — quite literally — with their endorsements, but this should make people question how many of these endorsers were paid for their support,” Menlo Balance co-leader Nicole Chessari told the Post.
Chessari said it’s hard to say whether the paid endorsements has hurt their campaign. She also points out the Yes on V campaign does not have to pay or donate to any of its supporters. Most of the Yes on V’s supporters include local officials, such as former Mayor and council candidate Peter Ohtaki, former mayors John Boyle and Paul Collacchi, Fire Board member Rob Silano, Planning Commissioner Henry Riggs. The only out of town endorser is Rishi Kumar, a Saratoga councilman who is running against Rep. Anna Eshoo.
“We don’t want entities/establishments supporting us — especially outside of Menlo Park. Measure V isn’t about entities or establishments; it’s about individual Menlo Park residents having a voice about where they live,” Chessari said.
The Yes on Measure V campaign’s leaders have said they are not against housing, but “quality of housing should not be sacrificed for quantity,” the campaign’s website says. They have also pointed out that changes on density can occur with a simple majority of the council, meaning the council member for a district where a development is proposed may get out voted. They say this measure protects that from happening and makes sure it happens in the right areas around town.
CORRECTION: This story has been edited to eliminate two errors that appeared in the print version on Saturday.
Wow, makes you wonder about the other “supporters.” How much did they pay them?
Does ANYONE opposed to Measure V actually live in Menlo Park????
Valerie, you are a supporter of Measure V and you were paid by the campaign for your work. I know this because I read their financial disclosures. Penny Nixon supports No on V and she has also done work for the campaign for which she was fairly compensated, as was revealed in our financial disclosures. I don’t see any record of payments made to the hundreds of Menlo Park-based No on V supporters, including 4/5 council members, 4/5 MPCSD school board members + the MPCSD superintendent, multiple current and past planning and housing commissioners, State Senator Josh Becker, CA Assemblyman Marc Berman, and US Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
I wish the article had not used the phrase “the paid endorsements” as if that were a fact instead of an unfounded accusation. I imagine that most critical-thinking adults voting in this election will see through the hype.
I love that the Post is a great example of real journalism. The Almanac News doesn’t cover things like closed illegal meetings or the unethical paying of religiouis leaders to support a position. The writers and editors are too busy trying to please Peter Carpenter and the “No on V” people who fund him and all of the “supporters.” Keep up the high standards!
Homeowners in Menlo Park had better keep in mind how real estate works when they vote on Measure V. The NO side is backed by deep pocket housing advocates from outside Menlo who dearly want to flood the city with cheap, dense housing. This is going to plunge existing property values – and that’s exactly their goal. To make Menlo Park “affordable.” Existing howowners are the ones that will untilately pay for it. The laws of real estate are like physics, they don’t change.
If you were to buy a house at $1 million with a 30y mortgage, and Menlo City Council’s Ray Mueller, Cecilia Taylor, Betsy Nash, Jen Wolosin, and Drew Combs somehow managed to actually drop home prices to $500,000 in ten years, you’d be instantly underwater on your loan.
Why does Facebook run so many employee-candidates that are housing-focused? I suspect because it’s cheaper than paying housing recruitment bonuses.
To Katie: I’m a critical thinker and a homeowner of 20 years in Menlo Park. What I see is tens and tens of thousands of dollars flooding into the opposition to Measure V from developers and advocay groups OUTSIDE of my city. These aren’t my neighbors, and yet they tell me I need to drastically need to change my own neighborhood. My input doesn’t matter because I’m somehow “racist” if I don’t meet their demands. And now they’re paying religious leaders to fundraise for them? The actions of the whole “No on V” side just feel dirty to me.
When I see for myself paid canvassers and well funded professional advocacy groups who don’t want my opinion versus my Menlo Park neighbors, I can certainly “see through the hype.”
First we read about the developers and political advocates from outside Menlo who are backing the opposition to MEasure V. Then we read about the obscene amount of outside money raised. And now hiring Pastors? I feel like I need a shower everytime something gets published about the “No on Measure V” side.
In ten years they’ll rip up that lily pad fountain at Menlo City Hall and put up a statue of the Measure V authors. Anyone who can do basic financial analysis understands the housing mandates out of our current electeds are bad math at best, crashing the housing market at worst.