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Public Eye
January 18-24

Having Fund Yet?

Until recently, not a day seemed to go by that we didn't hear about Assembly candidate Ken Yeager, his fundraising megabucks and how he's the definitive candidate to beat for the 23rd Assembly seat. And even Eye found itself wondering what was up with Supervisor Mike Honda, who appeared to be biting his nails before the starting line in the race against Yeager and David Cortese. Looking at Honda's bottom line many politicos even wondered if he was running for the Assembly given that he had collected only a paltry $8,950, compared to Yeager's $113,760 and Cortese's $39,267. ... But in what must have been a whirl of fundraising activity over the holidays, Honda has closed the gap, raising a little more than $107,000 while Yeager only managed to snag around $37,000 and Cortese, with a loan for $30,000 from C/M Enterprises, came up with around $68,000. The difference is that Honda now has around $70,000 in his pocket going into the critical months before the March primary while Yeager and Cortese only have about $30,000 each. What's that line about he who raises last laughs loudest?

Code Season

Although it hasn't sent anyone's blood pressure off the charts yet, Scott Mathieson's run against county Supervisor Blanca Alvarado for the District 2 county supe seat has potential. For one thing, Mathieson is exactly the kind of guy some strategists predict could give Alvarado an election workout. That's code for an upper-middle-class white guy from the center of San Jose who could woo voters away from a Hispanic female who has championed the causes of less affluent neighborhoods. To round out his poster boy image: Mathieson, a geologist and former salesperson, is even a stay-at-home dad to two toddlers. That's code for: his headquarters won't exactly be quiet. Not only is Councilmember David Pandori backing him, but Mathieson claims he has the support of Councilmember Pat Dando and former mayor Tom McEnery (who, by the way, has earned the nickname around City Hall these days of San Jose's Grumpier Old Man). ... Mathieson says he has even gotten the Chamber of Commerce to squint at his candidacy ... Ron Smith--who ran Dando's and Assemblyman Jim Cunneen's successful campaigns--is riding shotgun so it should be no surprise that several of Mathieson's themes sound like retreads of Dando's campaign: namely, whomping on Quetzalcoatl and public safety. ... Despite the fact that Mathieson only has $800 so far, Alvarado's people say they are taking his campaign seriously. ... One rumor, which Mathieson adamantly denies, is that he is using this bid as a way to gain exposure and name recognition in order to run for pal Pandori's seat, which opens up in 1998. ... "There'll be about seven or eight people in that race," Mathieson says of the District 3 council seat. "I have no interest in that." ... The District 3 race is shaping up to be a free-for-all, with Dando's council assistant Erik Schonnauer and Mayor Susan Hammer's aide Sean Morley both expressing an interest in having their own padded seats behind the dais, which will create a cool little battle of the lackeys. If it happens, that is.

Somewhere Off 101

As the wire-copied pages of dailies tend to reveal on a regular basis, it costs less to cover, say, Bosnia, than it does to cover the home front. But of course, in the interest of garnering local advertising bucks, it's worth a try. Enter "Peninsula Friday," the San Francisco Chronicle's weekly 8-page section that "covers" the Peninsula. Last week's issue featured a story about Palo Alto and one about Mountain View on the front page, but the real fun was inside. "Bromo in Palo Alto Introduces the Sweet Satays of East Java," read the banner headline atop ace food critic Susan Bryan's full-page review. The only problem: the restaurant is actually located in Mountain View, on Castro Street, to be precise. Note to editors at the Chron: to find Mountain View, turn left at Bosnia and head due west for 9,214 miles. Look for lots of ethnic restaurants. You can't miss it.

Oh, Bother

And while we are on the topic of North County doings, the strict campaign finance limits imposed on contenders for the Board of Supervisors may be backfiring. Or so says candidate Barbara Koppel, who is among those hoping to succeed term-limited supe Dianne McKenna. By law, candidates are not allowed to accept any contribution in excess of $350, including donations of in-kind items like printing or office space. So Eye had to glance twice at Koppel's latest financial disclosure form, which lists a slim $50 monthly rent payment for her Cupertino campaign headquarters. The former Cupertino City Council member tells Eye, however, that this space is not really a campaign headquarters. She is merely reimbursing her treasurer, local CPA Tom L. Hall, for the use of telephones in his office as a temporary measure. Koppel says she can't afford to pay "market rate" for a headquarters and has contacted the new owner of the Cupertino Village shopping center on Wolfe Road, Peter Row, who has volunteered to give her some space for a real headquarters while his center is being renovated. This is a gift, Koppel hopes, that would not violate the law because the space would not be otherwise rentable during that time period. She plans to ask the county ethics commission for their formal ruling this week before moving ahead. "It wasn't the intent of the [ethics] law to make campaigns cost more," Koppel tells Eye, adding that "if it becomes too difficult for people to run for office they are not going to bother." Meanwhile, Koppel's principal opponent, former Palo Alto mayor Joe Simitian, is campaigning out of the digs on Palo Alto's University Avenue which were formally occupied by supervisorial candidate Owen Byrd, who dropped out of the race and endorsed Simitian. The rent: $500 per month.

Zoe Telling

Despite a concerted effort by his supporters, state Senate candidate Tom Hayes came four votes short of denying his adversary, Assemblyman John Vasconcellos, the official endorsement of the California Democratic Party during a party caucus conducted this past weekend. The vote, while close, was crucial because it allows Vasconcellos to portray himself as the officially endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party in his mailers and campaign ads, an advantage given the fact that only registered Democrats can vote in the upcoming primary election. Vasco's victory also allows the state Democratic Party to enter the fray on his behalf through independent expenditures they might make. Delegates to the caucus tell Eye that many, but not enough, votes were swayed to the Hayes camp through the telephonic efforts of San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who personally called delegates urging support of the Applied Materials public relations exec. Hayes, it should be noted, raised funds for Lofgren's longshot congressional campaign against former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery while Vasconcellos sat that one out, preferring, he said at the time, not to take sides in a contest that pitted two of his old friends against each other. Apparently, Lofgren feels no such constraints.

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