Websites now expected in campaigns
By Nathan R. Huff
Though it may be generally accepted that the Internet is the way of the future, all four Los Gatos Town Council candidates seem to agree that its affect on the 2000 race is minimal.
While the majority of council hopefuls say their webpages are a valuable tool for local voters who want more information on candidate issues and opinions, no one had received an overwhelming response to their campaign sites, and several said they were disappointed in the lack of feedback.
"I was really hoping by the time this [campaign] was over I'd have some really good feedback--I've gotten seven [online] questionnaires back," candidate and former planning commissioner Sandy Decker said. "How effective has it been? I don't know."
Decker certainly put the most money into her site, paying a Southern California designer a flat rate of $3,885 to create and maintain her site. Her webpage is definitely the flashiest, featuring colored, link-related graphics and pop-up windows with pictures of Los Gatos. There is a picture of Decker in the top left corner and a banner across the middle of the home page that links to "An interview with Sandy Decker," complete with candid photos. The main links from the home page are "platform," "background," "endorsements," "feedback" and "support."
Mike Abkin, a former planning commissioner as well, has the next most flashy site. Designed by former Los Gatos High School student Brian Parker, the homepage features a large, centered picture of Abkin and a similar list of links, with a unique "click here for highlights" banner that links to a page showcasing Abkin's service record. Abkin spent $772 on his website, $547 for the design and another $225 to link the site to the Los Gatos site, "losgatosx.com."
Abkin said he was also somewhat dismayed by the lack of response he has received to the website. However, he said not having a site would have negative results. "I think it's one of those things that, in terms of right now, having one doesn't have that much of a positive effect, but not having one might have a negative effect," Abkin said, adding that he noticed the site gets more hits after he spends time campaigning door-to-door.
Candidate Paul Dubois, Los Gatos Community Foundation president, said his site had not received a large number of visitors either, but it wasn't that big of a surprise to him. "I think these are tools that are going to be more useful in the future," Dubois said.
Dubois' site was designed by A-First Web Design in San Jose, the same web design firm that did Dubois' company site and the Community Foundation's site. Dubois spent $860 on his site, which has a similar layout as the others, featuring a photograph of the candidate, a waving flag graphic and a number of links, including one titled "hot issues."
"The goal is to give people an opportunity at their leisure to find out about me and what issues are important to me," Dubois said.
The fourth candidate, Los Gatos Unified School District board member Steve Glickman, said he has a similar goal with his website, but holds little hope of it having a dramatic effect. Glickman said that, in his previous District 24 Assembly race, he put his webpage on every sign and piece of campaign mailing and still only received about 500 hits.
"To be truthful, very few people look at them," Glickman said. "I put the site up because I feel the responsibility that all the other candidates do to have something available if people are interested." He added that expecting people in local elections to search out candidate websites was akin to expecting voters to come knocking at candidates' doors, rather than the other way around. "It's the responsibility of the candidate to get their message to the voters."
Glickman designed the page himself, saving himself considerable money and, while the template is fairly similar in structure to the other candidates', the appearance is more pedestrian. The blue, black and white page includes a picture of Glickman, a list of links similar to the other candidates and a "quote of the day" feature that, on Oct. 9, featured an H.L. Mencken saying: "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong."
Glickman's site, while giving email and telephone contact information just as the other candidates, is the only site where visitors can't directly interact with the site. Decker's offers the most interactive option, allowing visitors to fill out a poll on town issues, such as traffic and development, as well as providing a place to submit comments.
Abkin's and Dubois' sites both offer an opportunity to submit comments or questions to the candidates. However, all three candidates with interactive sites said they had received very few responses. "I wanted to communicate, that's the main thing, and I wanted it to be interactive to generate a community dialogue," Abkin said, adding that he has only received a handful of responses.
Dubois was the only one to report receiving any monetary contributions from the website, in the form of two small donations. All four candidates have information on their sites about donating to the campaign or volunteering. Most candidates, however, said finding volunteers usually required a more personal approach.
"It's really been most helpful for people who are computer savvy," Decker said. "What I think is happening is people jump on it, check it out and then forget about it."
Despite the lack of response, Decker, Dubois, Abkin and Glickman all said that, if elected, they would keep their websites up in an attempt to continue community dialogue.
Mike Abkin: http://www.mikeabkin.org; Sandy Decker: http://votefordecker.org; Paul Dubois: http://dubois4council.org; Steve Glickman: http://www.glickman.2000.org.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
