The Cupertino Courier

Haze won't sign local ethics statement

Group's members should not support candidates, he says

By Pam Marino

One of the five City Council candidates in this November's election has declined to sign a voluntary campaign ethics statement crafted by a citizens' group.

Steven Haze said he will not sign the statement written by the Cupertino Campaign Ethics Committee because there are no procedures in place for determining violations or for enforcement of the code.

He said he also believes that all committee members should be Cupertino residents and that they should not publicly support nor make contributions to local candidates.

Haze did sign an ethics statement from the California Fair Political Practices Commission. He also appointed a volunteer "ethics adviser" to assist him throughout the race. The other four candidates--Don Burnett, Andrea Harris, Sandra James and John Statton--signed both the Cupertino and the California ethics statements.

Haze's complaints about the ethics committee stem from an incident during the 1995 council race in which three candidates accused him of violating the ethics code.

Haze denies violating the code of ethics. "I had not been contacted by any certifiable organization, and no complaint was ever filed," he said recently.

Haze also called ethics committee chairwoman Nadine Grant's financial contributions to other candidates in the 1995 City Council election unethical. Haze said that as the leader of the campaign ethics committee, Grant should have kept out of the election.

Grant said she disagrees with Haze that she and other committee members should not participate as citizens in elections. Members of the committee joined because they are involved in local politics, and they care about the issue of ethics in elections, she said.

"The way we keep balance is by having people from a variety of viewpoints," Grant said of the committee. "None of us agree on candidates and issues. It's been entertaining that way, and healthy."

The ethics committee looked into implementing a formal enforcement process, Grant said, but members were dissuaded by legal advice. Committee members were told by a lawyer that anyone who was involved in judging a campaign-ethics case could be sued.

The committee's code of ethics is given to each candidate at the beginning of the election. Signing the code is voluntary. It is the responsibility of each candidate to mail the signed code to the League of Women Voters, which keeps it on file until 90 days after the election.

The code--part of which is nearly identical to the state code--contains 13 statements that denounce using tactics such as defaming, libeling or slandering other candidates and making last-minute charges against other candidates. It calls upon candidates to denounce others who use "the methods and tactics which I condemn." It also states that candidates will take responsibility for the actions of campaign workers and will take "firm action" against any worker who violates provisions of the code.

The ethics committee was started in 1994, after a 1993 election that featured a last-minute mailer supporting two candidates while attacking a third. Grant said she was offended by the mailer because it did not give the candidate enough time to respond to the mailer's charges.

Grant invited Cupertino citizens to join the committee, including Rich Robinson, the professional campaign consultant who had written the mailer that had offended her. Robinson provided campaign scenarios that were helpful in writing the code, Grant said. Robinson worked for Haze during the 1995 campaign.

The committee also includes a Sunnyvale resident who Grant said provides an objective, outside viewpoint.

The committee was originally formed only to write the statement, not to become an enforcement body, Grant said.

The four other candidates in the race said they agree with Haze that the code of ethics is imperfect, because there is no agency to enforce it. But they said having the code is better than nothing.

"They are imperfect, but they set a tone for the election that is important," said candidate Sandra James. "One of the reasons I'm running is that I'm a longtime resident, and I'm really unhappy with the tenor of the last two elections."

"A person's ethics come from inside them. You're either ethical or you aren't," candidate John Statton said. "But the value of these ethics pledges is that they raise everybody's awareness about what is right and what is wrong."

Andrea Harris said signing the code tells something about the candidate to voters. "By making a public statement of it, it tells people of your philosophy," she said.

Incumbent Don Burnett said he has no problem with the statements in the code, so he signed it. However, he believes Haze's position is reasonable. He agreed with Haze that the committee members should be unbiased. "It's just like handing an ethics shotgun to someone," he said. Being on the committee gives someone "a license to go out and make charges and identify yourself as the ethical conscience of the city."

[ Back to Contents Page | Cupertino Courier Home Page | Archives ]