Guest commentary: Chamber should pay for actions

The following is an excerpt from a speech I gave at the state Fair Political Practices Commission on June 12. The commission was deciding on a $39,000 fine for the Galt District Chamber of Commerce and Rex Albright (the chamber's former chief executive) regarding campaign violations that occurred during the 2002 election in the city of Galt. After my speech and speeches from other residents of Galt, the commission voted to impose the $39,000 fine.

I first want to thank the commission and your enforcement division for their excellent work on this matter.

… It is really nice to see that some justice has finally prevailed regarding the Galt Chamber of Commerce and their various campaign committees and their violations of the law.

I want to remind the commission that I authored Measure R, the slow-growth initiative that was defeated in November 2002. I spent many months working on this initiative to make sure it was well-written and could withstand legal challenges.

It was designed to protect the financial stability of the city and, at the same time, allow well-planned residential growth. … The initiative applied only to residential growth, not commercial development.

I paid all the fees for this initiative, to bring it to the point where we could collect signatures. This included legal notices, printing of initiative copies, literature, etc.

We had dozens of volunteers who walked door to door throughout the city of Galt, trying to collect signatures to place this initiative on the ballot. Many of the volunteers worked dozens … of hours trying to collect enough signatures to bring this initiative to the voters of Galt.

Finally, we had completed our journey and felt that we had enough signatures to submit the initiative to the City Clerk's Office. The volunteers submitted 1,311 signatures even though we only needed 841. We wanted to have a buffer just in case some of the signatures were excluded.

This was truly a grass-roots effort to bring this initiative to the voters of Galt. Within 30 days, we were informed that the initiative qualified for the ballot.

… Soon after this, the chamber of commerce started its shenanigans and began creating … campaign committees. … I believe their intent, from the beginning, was to hide the true source of the funds that they were using to defeat Measure R. This made it impossible for me and the Measure R supporters to explain to the voters who was spending all this money to defeat the initiative. We had to follow the law while the chamber and its phony campaign committees continued to violate the campaign finance laws of the state of California. This ultimately led to the defeat of Measure R and the three slow-growth candidates who were supporting Measure R in this election – Bob Kraude, Rob Sealey and Theresa Pearson.

If the public were aware of the source of the funds, they would have discounted the negative campaign and supported the initiative. Unfortunately, they couldn't make a qualified and informed decision.

It is this type of activity that misleads and deprives the voters of opportunities to improve their communities, and it makes people lose faith in the Democratic process.

I spent more than $1,000 of my personal funds to bring Measure R to the citizens of Galt. … In addition, other committees were created to support Measure R. Joann Walters' committee spent close to $1,000, Tom and Lori Heuer's committee spent close to $1,000. This is separate from the thousands of dollars that the slow-growth candidates spent on their election campaigns.

I am asking the commission to reject this settlement and order the perpetrators to, at a minimum, pay the Measure R expenses for myself, Joann Walters and Tom and Lori Heuer. This is the least they should do for stealing the election from the residents of Galt.

In addition, I am asking the commission to reject this settlement and order the perpetrators to pay the maximum penalties allowed under the regulation. So, instead of a settlement of $39,000, the acts warrant a penalty of $45,000.

I have looked into the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the Galt Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento County small claims court. Unfortunately, small claims court has a statute of limitations for fraud – three years from the date of discovery. The Galt Chamber of Commerce's activities occurred in 2002, six years ago.

… Furthermore, I am asking the commission to refer this case to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, the attorney general's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

… Thank you for your time and consideration.

About the writer:

• Tim Raboy is a Galt city councilman and the author of Measure R.