The following article was extracted from the Millbrae - San Bruno edition (The Sun) of the Independent, September 15, 1999 . It was also published in the other Peninsula editions of the Independent serving South San Francisco, Colma, Brisbane, Daly City, Foster City, Hillsborough and Burlingame. The Redwood City, Belmont and San Carlos editions should publish it on Wed. Sept. 29, 1999.
Page 1A
College bond-marketing campaign
called ill-timed
Trustee candidate accuses board of misusing funds
By David Burutto
Independent Newspapers
After placing a $148 million bond on the
November ballot, the San Mateo County Community College District Board of
Trustees has been accused of promoting the bond via a marketing campaign paid
for with public funds.
College district
board of trustees candidate Jack Hickey has characterized the college
district's recent marketing campaign to promote the three colleges in the
district and their respective programs, as thinly veiled promotion of the
bond.
Although the current marketing campaign
sponsored by the district, which includes the College of San Mateo, Skyline and
Canada Colleges, has coincided with the bond, board members deny one had
anything to do with the other.
In fact,
said district trustee Tom Constantino, the marketing materials and
advertisements make no reference to the bond at all.
Instead, the materials describe programs
offered through the colleges and feature testimonials from students describing
their experiences at the colleges.
The
marketing campaign, said Constantino, actually stems from a "needs assessment"
commissioned by the district in 1996 when the district experienced declining
enrollment at its three campuses. "The findings of that study indicated that
many people lacked an awareness of the colleges," he said. "They received
little information at home or from the press. From that we decided that we
should have a more aggressive outreach and marketing effort."
Hickey, a Libertarian and candidate vying for
a seat on the five member district board, is staunchly opposed to the bond,
characterizing it as a de facto tax. "I am opposed
to the bond measure because it adds essentially one
percent tax," he said. "In other words, it is effectively a tax override
of the Jarvis-Gann Act (Proposition 13)."
When the college district commissioned the needs assessment in 1996, however,
the district had no funding available for the suggested marketing a
campaign.
That changed in September of last
year when the district was informed by the state that it did not have to make
its annual contribution to the California Public Employees Retirement System
(CalPers).
For the past two years, according
to CalPers spokesman Brad Pacheco, the investments from the state pension fund
have performed so well, earning as much as 19 percent in 1998, that
contributions from school employers were reduced to zero percent for that year.
For the college district, that freed up
approximately $738,000. With the unanticipated funds, the district board,
according to Constantino, diverted $250,000 into the outreach program suggested in the 1996 needs assessment
which had never been funded. Subsequently, after soliciting several bids, the
board engaged Bay Relations, a Daly City-based
de facto -
I am familiar with de facto and de jure I did not
use either in this instance, but the tax would definitely be de jure, and would
be a result of the bonded indebtedness contained in Measure A, to be paid by
future homeowners.
because it adds
essentially one percent tax - this is a
misquote. The next sentence is accurate. Jarvis-Gann imposed a 1%
limit on property tax. Measure A would increase property taxes above that
1%.
outreach program - a.k.a. PR campaign apparently targeted to influence
voters.
marketing firm, in early spring this year to
create a public relations campaign that has included
television advertisements and printed literature distributed through the
mail.
To date, according to district
spokeswoman Barbara Christensen, the district has spent approximately $200,000
of the $250,000 allotted in September.
"We
think the campaign has been very successful," she
said.
"We started in May and our summer
enrollment was up 7.8 percent and our fall enrollment looks like it is up a
percent or two."
The same month that the
marketing campaign began, the campaign committee sponsoring the bond measure
also convened.
"It was in early May that we
began meeting and since then we have raised about $100,000 and spent
approximately $20,000," said Pat Miljanich, college trustee and chair of the
Citizens for Higher Education, the campaign committee sponsoring the
bond.
The bond money, according to the campaign
statement for the bond, will go toward upgrades for science labs and computers;
repair leaky roofs; remove asbestos; seismic upgrades; retrofitting classrooms;
improve disabled access; improve safety on the three campuses and make other
real property acquisitions and improvements.
The bond measure will require a two-thirds vote for
approval.
The bond measure itself was not
approved by the district board until its June 23 meeting, after both the bond
campaign and district marketing effort were
underway.
"It appears like a normal step in
influencing voters," said Hickey. "Whether the measure had been on the ballot
yet, to me, is not relevant. The bond measure was forthcoming and the effort
was directed at influencing voters as opposed to reaching out to the community
to get them to know and love the college district."
About the time that the Citizens
for Higher Education began meeting, the bond campaign received the first of
two $20,000 donations from the San Mateo County Community Colleges
Foundation.
The foundation is the 33-year-old
philanthropic, non-profit organization that raises money for scholarships and
services such as childcare for low-income students at the three district
campuses.
The foundation approved a $20,000
donation for the bond campaign in March of last year, three months prior to the
district board placing the bond on the ballot.
The second $20,000 donation was approved by the 22-member foundation board on
July 20, according to Darwin Patnode, executive director of the
foundation.
College district trustees Tom
Constantino and Helen Hausman also serve on the Foundation Board. Their
presence on both boards, according to Hickey, amounts to a “...
pattern of activity that is seeking to influence
elections.”
Of primary concern to hickey, is whether or not the marketing materials
designed to promote the college were sent to the public at large or simply to
registered voters.
Bay Relations, the marketing
firm hired by the district, has declined to make public its mailing list,
according to Christensen, stating that the material
proprietary.
"If they revealed how they derive
their lists anyone could (use it), it's their competitive -advantage," she
said.
By law, marketers are precluded form
obtaining voter registration rolls directly from local agencies according to
San Mateo County Registrar of Voters Warren
Slocum.
Political campaigns or journalists, for
example, are allowed access to voter rolls and can easily transfer that
information elsewhere.
John Ruben, the college
district's liaison at Bay Relations did not return calls for
comment.
What is known is that the target
audience for the marketing materials was, in part, 30-60 year-olds in the
county, according to Christensen.
"That target
market was chosen based on a three-year old community needs assessment done in
1996 that indicated that we had the least representation of those people among
our student population and those people also knew the least about us," she
said.
Despite an apparent lack of direct
evidence of misappropriation of public funds for a political purpose, Hickey has contacted the Fair Political Practices
Commission, an independent agency that governs disclosure of political
campaign contributions and spending by candidates and ballot measure committees
in the state, and may make a complaint with the San Mateo County Grand
jury.
"The district has a legitimate purpose in
mailing out materials and advertising their
classes, their curriculum or special events - but this is not just a
public relations flyer," he said. "It's a feel-good piece of literature trying
to get people to support the colleges through the ballot box - that's their
goal, stated or not”.
advertising
their classes - Barbara Christensen of
the District informed me that these mailings go out three times a year to
250,000 households. That seems like plenty of community
contact!
television
advertisements - contributors of $10.00 or more to Hickey for CCD will
receive a copy on CDROM upon request. e-mail jackhick@cwnet,com
or call Jack at 650-368-5722
“... pattern
of activity that is seeking to influence elections.” This
appears to be a bit of creative journalism possibly gleaned from my website,
but clearly out of context.
Hickey
has contacted the Fair Political Practices Commission. I have not. Other associates of mine may
have.