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Published on 08/31/1998 All articles from this issue

League, Los Altos Hills reach accord on 1998 election campaign monitoring

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By Carol Tiegs

Special to the Town Crier

The Los Altos Hills Town Council Sept. 2 unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with the League of Women Voters under which the league will monitor the 1998 city council campaign.

Carol Watts, president of the League of Women Voters of the Los Altos-Mountain View Area, told council members on Sept. 2 that the league's board had approved the memorandum on Sept. 1. "The league was happy to be asked" to serve in this capacity, which "falls within our mission," Watts told the council.

Under the terms of the memorandum the league will appoint a neutral compliance committee comprised or three or more league members who do not reside in Los Altos Hills and have no family, financial, social or other relationship with any of the candidates.

The committee will receive and investigate written complaints of violations of the town's Code of Ethics with reference to written campaign material. Watts said the committee will not investigate complaints of violations of the state's Political Reform Act, which should be directed to the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento.

The committee will investigate complaints that campaign literature contains misstatements of fact, inaccurately lists endorsers, or was mailed without identification of the sender.

Complaint forms will be available at the Los Altos Hills Town Hall, 26379 Fremont Road. Complaints will be accepted from Los Altos Hills residents who are registered voters. Complaints that are not signed and dated will not be investigated.

Once a complaint is investigated the committee will send a written report of its findings to the complainant, the candidate whom the complaint was lodged against and the Los Altos Hills city clerk. If the committee finds the complaint is substantiated, the findings will be released to the Los Altos Town Crier and, at the discretion of the committee, to the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle and/or Palo Alto Daily News. It will also be published on the World Web Web.

If a complaint receives publicity outside the committee process the committee may release its findings even if the complaint is not substantiated.

The council will reimburse the league for any committee expenses up to $500.

The league and city attorney Sandy Sloan had worked over the last two weeks to develop the memorandum following council suggests made at the Aug 19 council meetings. Mayor Bob Johnson complimented the league on "how accurately it interpreted the council's wishes."