Amid the mud-slinging during the race for Menlo Park’s two open City Council seats, the one of greatest concern to voters is candidates accepting campaign donations that represent a potential conflict of interest.
The case in point is the practice of the city’s largest union, the SEIU, to make large donations to one or more City Council candidates, who they obviously hope will support them when it is time to bargain for higher wages. The problem was clearly illustrated last week when council member Kelly Fergusson, a candidate for reelection, accepted a large donation — $1,000 — from the SEIU, and then voted to give the city’s non-benefited workers, who are represented by the SEIU, an additional 2 percent increase in addition to the standard raise recommended by the union.
Ms. Fergusson, who received two other $1,000 donations, is the only candidate who received a donation from the SEIU. The city attorney said she did nothing illegal when she voted for the pay raise and that the state’s Fair Political Practices Act was not violated by her vote.
And there are no laws that say unions cannot donate to local political campaigns. But Ms. Fergusson easily could have abstained from that vote, citing a conflict of interest due to the SEIU contribution. She did not. And even though she apparently believes that there is no link between her vote and the SEIU’s $1,000 campaign donation, the appearance of conflict is too strong to ignore. Clearly, the SEIU has a strong agenda in the city, including getting its members the highest possible salaries and adding union jobs to the city roster.
Council candidate Rick Ciardella accepted a donation of $1,000 from Howard Crittenden, owner of the shuttered Park Theatre, who almost certainly will come before the council to develop his building site within the next four years.
We like incumbent candidate Andy Cohen’s approach. He has refused contributions from organizations that might bring business before the city council. Such a solution takes any talk of conflict of interest off the table.
Menlo Park even has a model conflict law on the books — for the Planning Commission, which bars commissioners from accepting a campaign donation from anyone who has or will appear before them. The law could easily be adapted for the City Council. Some cities have set a voluntary campaign-spending limit. Either or both would be appropriate for Menlo Park to consider. After the meeting last week, council member John Boyle said he would like to see the council adopt a municipal ordinance that would prohibit a vote on an issue involving a group that gave a council member a donation within a certain time period.
Mr. Cohen’s decision to pass up potentially conflict-laden donations did not appear to hurt his fund-raising efforts, even with unions. He accepted $250 from the electrical workers and $1,000 from the plumbers and steamfitters, but these unions do not represent workers who bargain with the City Council on new contracts.
We see similar conflicts in the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, where over the years the firefighters’ union has been actively involved in fire board campaigns, making donations and recommending candidates. By accepting such donations, board members subject themselves to a serious conflict unless they recuse themselves during salary negotiations for the rank and file.
Candidates for local office should not need to spend exorbitant sums to get elected. By simply declaring that they will not accept donations from groups like the SEIU that do business with the city, candidates can easily defuse any claims of conflict. It would be a simple step and send a positive message to the voters, who may rightfully wonder about the council’s independence.
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