Politicking As The Chamber Knows Best
1:57 PM - Link to this article.
We give the Chamber of Commerce and that person that runs it a lot of grief on this blog, and deservedly so. But credit where it's due: when campaign season rolls around, they run above-board campaigns that focus on the positive benefits of their candidates, not cheap smears on the folks they're most afraid of.
Oh, wait.
Someone faxed me this beautiful piece of campaign strategery that is hitting campaign mailboxes this afternoon.
Paid for by the business leaders of your local Chamber of Commerce, the smear focuses on Craig Mann's stint on the East Side Union High School District. The issue being raised was inevitable, but it is still surprising that the Chamber decided to go after one of the several strong candidates running against their gal, Rose Herrera.
This comes, of course, from Ms. Patricia Dando who, while running for Council, made a cheesy videotape stating, among other things, that "[w]e're all tired of negative campaigning." Watch for yourself once again, starting at the 5:13 mark.
A whole different level of hypocrisy. After all, the Chamber could, instead, have touted the business acumen and experience of Herrera, couldn't they? Couldn't they?
Labels: Chamber, District 8 Campaign, hypocrisy, Pat Dando
5 Comments:
You know that she probably will not be inviting you to her birthday party because of this.
It is interesting that now Mayor Chuck Reed got a pass (get out of freaking jail card) when it was discovered Chuck Reed had taxpayers improperly reimburse him for $39,000 of illegitimate expenses while serving on the San Jose City Council. But of Craig Mann’s expenses, only $1,000 of $31,000 was found to be less than appropriate. Mann paid the $1,000 back to the school district 5 years ago and is still catching hell to this very date. Why didn’t the Chamber of Commerce attack Chuck Reed in the 2006 mayoral campaign for an exponentially bigger error in judgment (like a 100% error rate)? Oh yeah, I forgot they endorsed him and now they've endorsed a bankrupt candidate, Rose Herrera, in the district 8 city council race. Whatever one says about Pat Dando and the Chamber of Commerce they are consistently hypocritical and full of “double-standards”.
At his inauguration on January 9, 2007, to the traditional oath of office, Mayor Chucky also promised "no lying, no cheating, no stealing”. Nice sound bite, but didn’t he get busted doing exactly the opposite with $39,000 of San Jose’s money? Yes he did!
I wonder how many days it will take for the San Jose Mercury News (SJMN) to hold the Chamber of Commerce and their candidate Rose Herrera accountable for their negative campaigning against Craig Mann. The SJMN editorial board usually takes organizations and candidates to task for attributing falsehoods to them and/or when candidates for office have spun SJMN excerpts into sounding like an endorsement of their candidacy from the SJMN. Hopefully the SJMN stands up and acts in a principled manner before inaction gives the liars the appearance of being truth tellers.
It's unfortunate the Silicon Valley/San Jose Chamber of Commerce demonstrates again that its leadership deserves nothing less than organizational euthanization.
So, here's the way to do it. Start a new Chamber of Commerce. Heck, start several.
The best way to destroy Pat Dando is to get her looking over her shoulder in fear day-noon-night. It should be personal. She should feel fear.
It's time for reasonable folks to launch several new Chambers of Commerce. Sign up local small businesses at ridiculously low rates. Then use the new Chamber PACs to launch personally targeted attacks against the overpriced Chamber that Pat heads. All in the name of "competition." Make her accountable. Make her defend her management choices. Encourage her neighbors to taunt her. Print some "DESTROY DANDO" signs and post them near her residence and near her office.
Roll out the plan wisely and a large number of current Chamber companies will join at least one new Chamber as well.
But, this all requires the fortitude to play hardball. Anyone game?
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