This story was first published in the Wednesday, Aug. 2 edition of the Daily Post. To get important local news stories first, pick up the Post in the mornings.
This story was corrected to say that donor Pat Marriott isn’t a member of the group Los Altos Residents.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou has a lot of financial ground to make up in her quest to unseat Assemblyman Marc Berman.
Kou is relying on individual donations, while Berman has received a boost from corporations and political action committees.
Kou raised $64,231 in the first six months of the year, compared to Berman’s $412,395, according to campaign finance forms show.
Berman now has $1.38 million in his campaign account.
Kou has $45,952, campaign finance forms show.
Kou’s donations were all from individual donors, mostly from Palo Alto and neighboring cities.
Berman received donations from 58 political action committees representing specific interests, such as dental hygienists ($1,500), new car dealers ($5,500) and the sheet metal workers union ($5,500).
Insurance companies such as Cigna ($3,000) and Blue Shield ($2,500) donated to Berman.
So did these companies: Meta ($5,500), Amazon ($2,500), Comcast ($2,500), AT&T ($1,000), eBay ($2,000), Coors ($1,400), Anheuser Busch ($2,500), Pfizer ($1,500) and BNSF Railway, the largest freight railroad in the United States ($5,500).
Local politicians are backing Berman. Rep. Anna Eshoo ($1,000), Rep. Kevin Mullin ($1,000), Mountain View Councilman Lucas Ramirez ($100), Los Altos Councilman Pete Dailey ($500), Menlo Park Mayor Jen Wolosin ($100), Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen ($500) and more donated to his campaign.
Downtown Palo Alto landlords Roxy Rapp ($5,500) and Jon Goldman ($500) donated to Berman.
Berman also received donations from more than a dozen pawn shops across the state.
Kou received donations from former Palo Alto council members Karen Holman ($100), Eric Filseth ($999) and Tom DuBois ($250). Another 86 Palo Alto residents donated to her campaign.
Members of Los Altos Residents, a group that wants local control over state mandates, are backing Kou. Freddie Wheeler ($1,000) and Roberta Phillips ($5,500) donated to her campaign. Pat Marriott of Los Altos, who is not a member of Los Altos Residents, donated ($500).
Kou, 56, is running on a platform of stopping Sacramento from taking away local control. She is opposed to the Housing Element process and wants the state to tighten up its budget.
“People say — ‘that’s insane to challenge an incumbent!’ — I get it,” Kou wrote on her website. “But what’s really insane is to not challenge the status quo that isn’t delivering for our communities.”
Berman, 42, of Menlo Park, was elected to the district in November 2016. Many of his bills have focused on making it easier to vote and get through college.
That list reminds me of Doria Summa’s comment about Palo Alto being a community, not a commodity to be sold to the highest bidders and Mitt Romney’s line “Corporations are people, my friend” when they voted to allow unlimited contributions from PACs, corporations, etc.
Some residents were joking about forming our own shallow-pocketed PAC and calling it DODO for Developer Owned Developer Operated.
From that list of deep-pocketed bidders, it’s obvious where the pressure to convert our resident-serving retail and restaurants to medical offices comes from.
Re Mr Berman’s crowing achievemrnts, one was announcing his pamphlet on gun safety on the same day that a kid in Redwood City shot himself in the groin while escaping fro
m the cops. Had he only read that helpful pamphlet, that tragedy could have been avoided.
As part of the Palo Alto community, I support Mayor Lydia Kou who’s consistently fought the good fight for us the residents –responding to questions from residents, getting responses and action from the city, loading sandbags — whatever WE need.
Her efforts are in stark contract to Mr. Berman who couldn’t even be bothered to get answers on when El Camino would be repaved — he referred constituents to the governor! — or as he said on a housing Zoom with 200 people — to have read the housing bills because he’s too busy and there are too many bills.
DODO
And if you want to preserve neighborhoods, prepare to be personally attacked by the pro-development crowd. Remember when Julie Lythcott-Haims tried to associate Doria Summa with Jim Crow?
I do indeed. JLH certainly has odd views of the world given her claims about Summa and also that the Chamber of Commerce and other big lobbyists are smaller than Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning as being the loudest and most influential voices in the room.
Remember when she said City Hall/staffers don’t need City Council oversight when claiming that her priority was touring the COUNTRY spreading her version of democracy than coming up to speed on CITY issues as a Freshman CITY council member.
This is sickening because it puts neon lights around the sad fact that elected seats are for sale. DODO is a perfect acronym for Berman – and too many others. We sorely need independent thinkers who are not beholden to any moneyed PAC or other group. The PACs supporting Berman will again spend thousands on political mailers to buy name recognition b/c they want yes votes on the legislation they support. Like Builder’s Remedy. The only bit of helpful information in those mailers is contained in the very fine print, as that is where you will find what/who you support by voting for Berman. Rather than settle for the status quo, which is not improving anything, vote for a candidate who is consistently “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. It’s critical that we voters take back the power of our vote and not let PACs decide who gets elected – and who rules our lives. Vote for Kou.