1993_02 Insight February 1993

              Page 2
Insight
February 24,1993
Political Report
Jim Patterson
Front runners
By Shari Kazarian
Staff Writer
"I am an expert and I'm prepared to be mayor of Fresno,"
said Jim Patterson,   mayoral
The businessman of 20 years
said he is very qualified to be
Fresno's next mayor. Describing himself as prepared and
experienced with such qualifications as chairman of a local
government affairs committee,
a city budget review committee
and the Privatization Task
Force, he is extensively involved with the Chamber of
Commerce.
Patterson said his political
science degree from CSUF has
also prepared him well enough
to serve in a public office.
Convinced the majority will
prevail, Patterson said he had
no thought on whether he and
Sctencich will split the conservative
vote.
* More than 600 contributions have
been made to Patterson's campaign,
300 of which were $100 or less, yet
his campaign has been able to advertise regularly on television and he
promotes his campaign with a large
amount of signs.
"It wouldn't be fair to say only developers and businesses have made
contributions," said Patterson, justifying his campaign funding as coming from a broad range of people who
have made generous contributions.
Though there have been 600 contributions, only 300 have been large
dollar amounts, and some of the largest contributions have been from a
distribution warehouse and a retailer
ofcompuiers,hesaid.
"Money is hard to come by ."said
Patterson, adding that watching the
city's spending is one of his main
objectives if elected.
"Personal responsibility and hard
work are some things I feel very
strongly about," he said.
"I respect tractions," Patterson said
to indicate that he is conservative in
fiscal matters.
Bring tradition into Fresno's community again by good old- fashion
fiscal policies, Patterson said
The real problems lay at City Hall,
accordinglo Patterson. "They have
a huge monopoly going on there."
Patterson said he has a plan that
will increase the police force without raising one pennyof new taxes
by putting a cap on the spending
until the budget problems are
solved.
Another part of Patterson's plan
consists of freeing the police department from the bureaucracyit—]
is involved in now by supporting
the repeal of 809.
In fact, he led the push to repeal
809 four years ago when it was on
the ballot as Measure B, because
he believes the departments will
have more freedom and that will
ultimately create a bigger budget
Patterson said he remembers
Fresno in the '60s as being an all-
American city.
"By an all-American city I mean
a city that was safe, had good jobs
and quality business," Patterson
said. "Currently, wc have fewer
police then we had two years ago."
The crime wave Fresno is suffering from has scared good, quality
business away, said Patterson, of-
fermgiheGottscrialk'swarehouses
movetoMadera as an example.
"We nee3 tbtear down the bureaucratic business and decrease
the red tape," Patterson said
Karen Humphrey
By Andrea Purl
Staff Writer
Mayor Karen Humphrey's
campaign brochure states her
goal simply; "Let's finish the
work we started four years ago."
She is battling to retain her position amidst a field of tough
candidates and even tougher
issues.
Humphrey is no stranger to
tough fights. Her mayoral career has been more of a war at
limes. "We've made progress,"
Humphrey said."lhe down town
and ihe public arc coming together. We've had 4,000 new
jobs created by economic-development programs."
Humphrey cites air and water
quality, youth programs,affordable housing, new jobs, tree
programs and the San Joaquin
River Parkway as triumphs for
the city.
Humphrey lists public safety at the
top of her campaign priority list and
with Fresno's crime rale rapidly rising. Humphrey said more police officers would help the situation and
make citizens feel more comfortable.
"I would like to sec more police
officers on the street." she said. She
has supported steps to form a public -
safety-bencfits assessment district to
help pay for extra officers.
Humphrey supports the basic partof
Charier Section 809 that bases police
and fire salaries on an eight-city formula, but thinks binding arbitration is
a good idea.
"We need a solution to the eight-city
formula," she said.
She helped to establish Drug Awareness Resistance Education in Fresno.
DARE is a program for elementary
school children to lead a life free of
drug abuse. She also helped expand
Camp Esteem, a program for at-risk
youth in middle school.
Another important issucof the mayoral race is economic vitality, according to Humphrey. Her campaign literature credits her with bringing
roughly 8,000 new jobs to Fresno
County.
For example, the 1989 opening of
the Nisshinbo Cotton Mill and the
Foster Farms poultry processing plant
created more than 900 new jobs for
ihc area.
As far as downtown rcocVclop-
ment isconcemed, Humphrey said
the project has been revitalized
since she took office. The new
Pacific Gas and Electric Building,
Civic Center Square and the new
City Hall arc cited in campaign
literature as proof of her continued
dedication to redeveloping downtown Fresno.
"There are times when the
progress seems slow," she said.
"But nothing good ever comes
quickly."
She calls herself a friend of the
environment Humphrey has been
at the forefront of the San Joaquin
River Parkway, a project to help
conserve the San Joaquin River by
preventing ihe river bottom from
being paved.
She and the city opposed the Ball
Ranch redevelopment plan, a controversial project in FresnoCounty
that would have been the first subdivision to be built on the San
Joaquin River bottom. That subdivision had raised environmental
questions about the effects on the
cily in traffic flow and the influx of
people into the cily. She cla'*j,s
partial victory in that battle because the Board of Supervisors
approved a revised plan in August
See Mayor, page 5.
Brian Setencich
By Mike Palmer
Staff Writer     \
The refrain during the 60s was.
don't trust any politician over
30; however, in Fresno's mayoral race, a major candidate is
30 and some wonder if this is
too young to run a large California city.
Brian Setencich, 30, a Fresno
City Councilman since 1991, is
considered a major mayoral
contender in the March 2,
Fresno City election. He recently gave his views on various issues in his second-floor
office of the lavish new City
Hall. A City Hall he said that
he would not have built, rather
he would have preferred to have
renovated an existing downtown structure.
The age factor invades almost
any discussion about
Sctencich's qualifications to be
mayor. He fielded age ques
tions in a good-natured manner.
Setencich said, "The Lord knows I
have got a lot of things that I could
improve on myself. Agc,imfortunatc \y,
is one that I can't. I'm not running for
mayor because I have some grandiose
idea about sitting in the mayor's office. I am running because people
have been supportive and have rallied
around my conviction to bring accountability to this government."
Crime, Setencich said, is his number one focus. He said, "It is fact that
there are people moving out of Fresno.
They are moving away from the crime.
Fresno is not the all-American city it
once was."
Setencich said Fresno should increase the number of police on the
streets by 200 officers. He said that
this increase could be accomplished
without new revenue sources by cutting existing programs and by replacing each retiring police officer by two
new reserve officers at half a regular
officer's salary. He advocated cutting $6.3 million in outside consulting fees from the budget as one source
of income.
Setencich was one of the council
members that voted to place Measure
Don the March ballot, which if passed
would eliminate Charter Section
809. This charter Section requires
police and fire salaries in Fresno be
set each year at the average of eight
California cities.
Setencich said that elimination of
the eight-city formula for setting
police and fire salaries would have
saved the City over S2 million last
year that could have been redirected to place more officers on
the street. He explained that all
other employees got a three percent cost of living increase whereas
police and fire got six percent
However, he opposed cutting any
existing salaries.
He said. "I don't support letting
eight other city councils dictate
what we do in our budget"
"More police presence is one aspect but it isn't going to solve the
whole problem. We do have to get
to the roots of the problem,"
Setencich said. He advocated a
program called "clean-up sentencing" where juvenile first offenders
would be required to work in the
community cleaning up median
islands and removing graffiti.
He said, "We also have to provide positive avenues for youth to
be involved in." Setencich advocated expanding such activities as
the Police Activities League, the
Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno
Smart Moves program and Camp
Esteem.
If public safety is going to be the
first priority in this City, he said,
See Brian, page 5.
Candidates,
from page 1
490 filed by the Jim Patterson For Mayor campaign.
paign account, specifications on mass-mailings and ihe
use of remaining campaign funds of defeated candidates.
The act also provides for the FPPC, an agency which
  , m   _ ,    disseminates information on campaign disclosure for
Patterson was reimbursed on three separate occasions each candidate's treasurer and investigates possible
between April 24,1992and Jan. 15,1993.Form 490 is the violations ofthe act itself and subsequent amendments,
official form used by the Fair Political Practices Commis- The FPPC also has the power to investigate charges
sion, the enforcement agency of the Political Reform Act, of violations, levy fines or impose civil and criminal
for the campaign disclosure of all candidates receiving penalties depending on the severity of the violation.
$1,000 or more in contributions. Thorp said most FPPC violations begin with a corn-
According to legislative changes to the California Politi-    plaint filed by a private citizen. If needed, the corn
eal Reform Act enacted Jan. 1.1990, "candidates may not
use personal funds to pay campaign-related expenses and
then later receive reimbursement from the campaign bank
account."
Belk commented, "1 know that [Patterson] was reimbursed on a few things like mileage, meals and meetings.
But these arc normal business expenses— I don't begrudge him that."
Belk said he was not aware that Patterson had been
reimbursed the amount of S7,975.69, nor that a restriction
even existed for reimbursements to candidates for campaign-related expenditures.
All candidates running for office are allowed to deposit
any amount of their own personal funds into the campaign    total amount contributed exceeds $1,000 from an indi-
bank account, however, it must be deposited prior to    vidual or $2,500 from a PAC.
spending it on campaign related expenses. In previous elections, individuals, which include pri-
"It's impossible to run a business like that— the office vale citizens and business firms, could contribute as
manager and I run expenses through our books all the time much money as they wanted to a given candidate. But
and get reimbursed," Belk said. "It's a stupid law if that's    as of Dec. 4, when the city ordinance was enacted, this
plaint is then further assessed by an attorney
FPPC's Enforcement Division. Depending on the severity of the violation, the FPPC may makeaphone call
to ask the campaign to file an amendment or send
investigators to audit the campaign's records.
Yet the provisions set up by the Political Reform Act
are not the only laws that now regulate campaign
finance. An ordinance passed by the FresnoCity Council last November limits the total contributions a candidate running for a city office can receive from individuals and political action committees (PAC).
According to Ordinance No. 92-88, no candidate or
campaign shall accept any contribution in which the
die way it is set up."
Any public complaints against the Patterson campaign
have yet to be filed.
Yet the Patterson campaign is not the only one running
into complications due to state campaign finance laws
established in the Political Reform Act.
On Feb. 4, a supporter of Mayor Humphrey filed a
formal complaint against mayoral candidate Brian
Setencich with the FPPC for failing to report the free use
of campaign office space as a contribution.
Setencich has
claimed that he
does not need to
report the use ofthe
building at 20 W.
Shaw Ave. because
the owner of the
building, who donated it to
Setencich. considers it to have zero
rental value.
However, the text
"It's a stupid law if that's the way
it is set up."
— Darren Belk, campaign
manager for Jim Patterson For
Mayor
was no longer the case.
This is not to say, however, that individuals did not
contribute over $1,000 to mayoral candidates in this
year's race, prior to Dec. 4, for they.did.
Consolidated Industries  Inc., 2148 E. Copper in
Clovis, had donated a total of $3300 to Patterson's
campaign— the largest reported amount donated by an
individual to a 1993 mayoral candidate.
Although the contributions were made to Patterson's
campaign by Nov. 2, a full month before Ihe ordinance
was enacted, contributions of this
amount will be
prohibited by the
CityofFrcsnoin
future elections.
Consolidated
Industries "declined to comment" about the
$3300 in contributions or the reasons tbc firm sup-
in Form 490 seems to contradict Sctencich's claim. ports Patterson.
Only Humphrey.Patterson.Setencichand Anthony Garza Fresno Firefighters Association Local 753 donated a
have filed Form 490 because the other nine candidates total of $2,480 to Humphrey's campaign, just S20 shy
have not raised a total of more than $1,000 in coniribu- of the contribution limit for PACs.
tions. Chairman Mike Gill commented, "[Humphrey] has
Guidelines set forth in Form 490 require a separate form had some problems before but she has been really
be filled out for "Non-Monetary Contributions Received." supportive of our issues. I expect Humphrey to be more
It stales "non-monetary contributions of $100 or more flexible and put more police and firefighters on ihc
must be itemized... Examples are...donated office space, lines."
The amount of non-monetary contribution is the fair
market value of an item."
Carol Thorp, FPPC media spokesperson adds, "An in-
kind contribution is anything that is not cash. It could be
anything from napkins and paper plates to office space and
office supplies."
According to the definition of "contribution" as stated in
the Political Reform Act, a contribution "... includes the
granting of discounts or rebates not extended to the public
generally."
Both Patterson's and Humphrey's campaigns have declared the uscof office space for their cam paign headquarters in Form 490 as in-kind or non-monetary contributions.
Anna Rush, treasurer for Brian Setencich For Mayor and
Sctencich's sister, said that Setencich has legal documentation thai the fair-market value of the building in use is
zero.
"Brian got two attorneys to draw up a document [confirming its zero rental value] prior to doing it," she said.
She added thai she feels the building is not an important
issue in this election and that the filing of a complaint by
a backer of Humphrey could be considered "mud-sling-
As if the Political Reform Act and various city ordinances weren't enough for campaigners to remember,
if Measure E, an amendment to the city charter on the
Mar. 2 ballot, is approved by voters, candidates for c ity
seats will not be able to accept any contributions
whatsoever before the filing of nomination papers.
The date for filing was Dec. 4, 1992 for this year's
mayoral candidates, only three months before the election. Such a restriction will most likely limitthe amount
of total contributions candidates will be receiving
compared to previous years.
Despite concerns about the complications these regulations may cause, people may overlook die reason
many of these campaign disclosure laws arc passed in
the first place— so the public knows the source of a
candidate's funds and where those funds arc spent.
Listed below is a demographic breakdown of all
monetary contributions over $100 for each of the three
major mayoral candidates as reported by their campaign treasurers:
Patterson has received $29,090 in total monetary
contributions over $100 as of Jan. 15. Twenty-five
percent has come from developers, 19 percent from
investmentcompanies, 14 percent from retired persons
Robert Licon, Mayor Humphrey's campaign manager, and homemakers, 11 percent from insurance agents, 11
disagrees. "Give me a break," Licon said. "The campaign percent from attorneys and 9 percent from Realtors,
headquarters is an operational expense like anything else."      Mayor Humphrey has received $22,939 in total mon-
Licon justified the fil ing ofa complaint against Setencich. ctary contributions over S100 as of Jan. 15. Forty-three
"In political campaigns, it's no secret that you are going to percent has come from PACs, 18 percent from
find out what your opponent is doing. Any information firefighters and police organizations, 8 percent from
that is publicly accessible means that it is Ihe voters' right attorneys, 8 percent from retired persons and home-
to know what is going on." makers, 7 percent from small business owners, 7 pcr-
Thc Brian Sctencich For Mayor campaign has yet to file cent from realtors and 9 percent other,
an amendment to Form 490claiming the building as an in-      Setencich has received $2,659 in total monetary con-
kind contribution. tributions over $100 as of Jan. 15. Sixty-six percent
"Being naive about me restrictions is one thing," Licon came from retired persons and homemakers and 34
said. "Bui knowing after having been told what they are percent from his own funds,
violating and ignoring it borders on arrogance."            I     Naturally, the more contributions candidates and
Rush said she didn't realize the treasurer had to report a their campaigns draw in, the larger expenditures ihcy
contribution if it had no monetary value. "If the building can make— with some single expenditures even ex-
needs to be reported to the FPPC, then it will be." she said, ceeding $ 10,000.
"Aslongasyou'renottryingtohidcanythingthentheyare      The Humphrey campaign's largest expenditure be-
usually fine with it." tween July 1 and Jan. 15 was $13,590 paid to the
Where did all of these restrictions and guidelines on Sacramento-based consulting firm of Townsend,
campaign financing originate? Laws on campaign financ- Hermocillo, Raimundo & Ushen. Licon said thai the
ing and disclosure can come from a myriad of different firm was paid by Mayor Humphrey's campaign for *
sources, bui the two mentioned above arc outlined in a "consulting on demographic information of voters,
comprehensive set of California state laws, commonly such as age groups, sex and party affiliation."
referred to as the Political Reform Act of 1974. The Patterson campaign's largest expenditure be-
The Political Reform Act, enforced since 1975, man- tween July 1 and Jan. 15 was $20,000 in fees and
dates that all state and local candidates submit extensive deposits to Dal ton Media Studios, a local media firm in
documentation on campaign financing, so that the voting charge of Patterson's television ads and campaign
public is informed on campaign contribution amounts as signs,
well as the expenditures campaign dollars are used for.        The second largest expenditure, also over $ 10.000,
Among the numerous activities regulated by the act are: was to campaign manager Darren Belk for "services"
reports of all contributions and expenditures over $100. and "reimbursements." Belk' has received $11,254.24
reports on any loans added or subtracted from Ihe cam- for his services as campaign manager so far.