Letter to the Editor: Campaigning Against Candidate is Not Dirty Politics

I talked to two of the potential who waited until the very last to pull papers.

I talked to one about his platform as I had not as then endorsed a second candidate. I talked to the other about filing so late in the game. She is a friend and I told her that and

I wanted her to know in advance that I could not support her candidacy and, in fact, would be campaigning against her, but never with malice. Don't real friends tell each other before, not after?

There were no threats; no screaming; no shouting. Just dialogue between reasonable people.

I suspect there are others who talked to candidates and the same could be said of their conversations. I also suspect that if you ask existing Council persons if someone talked to them before they ran – some threateningly – you will find that one or two of our Council people of the last decade were the ones to threaten those wanting to run.

At least one of those so threatened sits on the Council now. Fortunately they did not let the conversations, threats, or dissuasion deter them. Both of the potential candidates I talked to are strong, intelligent individuals who think on their own. My opinion would not have dissuaded either.

The Los Gatos Weekly Times did a disservice to the community by not following up on information they had that certain people did not conspire against one potential candidate.

The newspaper was given the name and a direct phone line to confirm or deny the information, but it did follow-up. Because of their article and the editorial, it gave the Council oligarchy one last chance to find at least a write-in candidate.

This election gives them one more shot to remain in power. Add the $20,000 that the candidates would have donated had they not had to pay for a campaign, and you’re well worth of $50,000 that would have gone into the community.

Do you think the schools could put that money to better use?

We will be changing back to better times in November.