LOS BANOS – As Los Banos City Council campaigns go, the contest between Mitzy Perez and Kalid Virriy Sanchez for the District 1 seat has been fairly low key.
As signs appear on lawns and each candidate walks neighborhoods encouraging residents to vote, neither candidate says she has spent more than $2,000 to get elected.
Still, there has been some controversy — most of it stirred by reports hinting that one of the candidates has skirted election rules. Recent stories on the Los Banos Enterprise website suggested Sanchez improperly left important information off her election forms to hide “debt” and mask ties to a developer which might someday force her to recuse herself from votes.
In evaluating the filings of both candidates, the Express didn’t find anything alarming or unusual. Both listed debts common to most households and both certified that they do not expect to surpass the $2,000 fundraising/spending threshold that would trigger additional official paperwork.
In short, both candidates appear to be complying with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission rules in their first campaigns for public office.
The all-mail election to fill the council seat vacated by Kenneth Lambert in January ends Aug. 26. Ballots can be mailed or dropped off at city hall or the County elections office. All votes must be postmarked by Aug. 26 and received by Sept. 2. Results will be certified by Sept. 25.
For small campaigns in which candidates do not intend to raise or spend more than $2,000, rules differ dramatically from those governing larger campaigns in which millions can be raised and spent. Large campaigns must establish a campaign committee, publicly name a treasurer, disclose donors and establish special bank accounts for handling donations. Small campaigns spending less than $2,000 don’t have to do any of that.
Merced County’s elections office provides a 41-page handbook to all candidates. On page 21, the handbook instructs candidates on how to fill out forms. The first, Form 700, includes a statement of assets and debts. Form 470 – which both candidates signed and filed — “is used by candidates who do not have a controlled committee, and do not anticipate raising or spending $2,000 or more in a calendar year,” according to the handbook.
If either donations or expenditures exceed $2,000, candidates have 10 days to file a Form 410 amending the original Form 470.
So far, Sanchez says she has spent around $1,200 on signs, banners and filing fees. She has logged donations of $850 from six donors, none made through her campaign website.
The Enterprise website took issue with a commercial property Sanchez leased several years ago for her business, Virriy’s Boutique and Makeup.
The property is one of several in Los Banos belonging to Sacramento developer Ethan Conrad Properties, which rents to over 2,600 commercial tenants in Merced, Los Banos, Chico, Salinas, Sacramento and across the Valley.
Expenses in maintaining a commercial space were higher than Sanchez anticipated.
“My electricity was over $2,000 for one month,” Sanchez said. “So, there was no way to keep up my business. I fell behind on rent.”
Having signed a seven-year lease, she sub-let the location to a support group. The rent she receives from the group does not cover her cost, she said, so “I have to make up the money from them and (Conrad) added that to my lease.”
Sanchez does not consider the back rent she owes to be a loan. Neither does the legal community.
Unpaid rent falls into the category of “breach of contract” – not a loan, according to various legal websites.
“I didn’t report that on the 700 Form because it’s not money that I received. I didn’t take out a loan. I never got money from them,” said Sanchez.
The Enterprise suggested the Conrad company could also have undue “leverage” over Sanchez through a “due-on-sale” clause.
But “due-on-sale” provisions are extremely common in property agreements, according to the Legal Information Institute – which calls such clauses “standard provisions found in the majority of conventional” agreements.
Judicialpolitics.org agrees that such clauses are “found in many leases” and is used by landlords to “maintain control over who occupies their property.” Basically, it allows the property owner to reject a new sub-lessor.
As for “leverage,” when a member of any elected or appointed board or council is faced with a vote affecting their property or that of business associates, there are often-used recusal procedures. Even living too close to a property can require elected officials to recuse themselves from specific votes.
While she was anxious to set the record straight, the Enterprise’s stories bothered Sanchez. She said she is going to open a new, smaller commercial location in Los Banos for her business.
“If I do become a city councilmember, I don’t want a lot of people going to my house – for the safety of my kids,” said the mother of five. “With all the lies and a private investigator writing about me … I don’t feel safe.”
Perez was only marginally aware of the attacks on her opponent.
“I know how politics can get, but I haven’t been paying attention to anything except what I’m doing,” said Perez.
Perez also filed Forms 700 and 470.
“It was a little confusing,” said Perez. “But I asked a lot of questions, and they were very helpful” at the Merced County Registrar’s office.
Perez said she is close to the $2,000 spending limit, having paid registration fees, purchased yard signs, flyers and banners. Since her entire campaign is self-funded, “I haven’t been spending too much.”
“I do a lot of door-knocking, that’s the main thing. I’m getting good feedback and I’ve had people tell me they would support me – but I’m not asking for donations.”
Sanchez said the online speculation, while annoying, has had little impact on her campaign. “It hasn’t come up except at one Chamber (of Commerce) mixer last week. And they weren’t accusing me of anything; it was like, ‘What’s up with that?’
“I have nothing to hide.”
