Friday, October 31, 2014

Dominic Caserta and the Housewives of Silicon Valley

Dear Santa Clarans,


To truly measure a political campaign, follow the money - from all sides.

Dominic Caserta's money machine amassed $64,000 between January 1st and October 18th.

Less than $4,000 of that even came from Santa Clara businesses, and less than $2,000 of it came from Santa Clara residents.  That's less than 10 percent from the city and residents that Mr. Caserta claims he's suited to represent.

So much for that so-called "grassroots campaign," eh?

Now, Kevin Park's campaign committee received less than $3,000 over that same interval.

One hundred percent of Kevin Park's support came from Santa Clarans and Santa Clara small businesses.

Now that's what we mean by "grassroots campaigning."   I encourage you to search for "Caserta" and "Kevin Park" here .   Look for "Form 460."

I'm the committee Treasurer for Santa Clara Plays Fair, so I must also submit Form 460s - same place as you'll find the two candidate reports above.  I'm required to correctly identify contributors to our group by occupation and employer when their donations amount to $100.00 or more in an election cycle.

For example, the designation "Homemaker , No employer" is a perfectly acceptable entry on a Form 460 when a homemaker tenders a contribution which is a contribution from  is large enough to be reported.  Since a typical donation to us is $50 or less, our group doesn't get to itemize large gifts from homemakers that often.

Dominic Caserta, however, sees a lot of them.   His campaign Treasurer, a Mr. Pietro Costa, recorded on Dominic's 460s a total of thirteen "Homemakers" donating an average of $336 each and putting a total of $4,400 dollars into the Caserta moneypot.  What gives?

Well, the first "homemaker" I picked at random on the form, from Scott's Valley, turned out to be a real estate broker.   Her name popped immediately in the state Department of Real Estate's licensing lookup.  Her out-of-town contribution to the Caserta Machine?   $500.00 .

Another "homemaker" is from Danville - and her name came up in connection with a luxury goods business.   Another $500 to Dominic Caserta.

A third "homemaker" is apparently the vice-chairwoman of a wholesale beverage distributing business.  $250.

A fourth is in fact a gentleman "homemaker."   That trail ran cold - but it ran real close to a real estate and insurance office in San Jose.  Another five hundred bucks to Dominic.

You get the idea.   Also, note that not a single one of the thirteen "Housewives of Silicon Valley" conduct business in Santa Clara or reside here.

This is troubling from another standpoint, too:  Note that Dominic Caserta is the one who signed the City of Santa Clara's Campaign Ethics Pledge.   Yet, part of those same campaign ethics is the truthful disclosure of who's really funding one's campaign.

Kevin Park, declined to sign that same pledge - but he then proceeded to honor the very process our city's leaders and their consultants claim that they want.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr., has noted, "Our character is what we do when we think that no one is looking."   Dominic Caserta and the Housewives of Silicon Valley have some explaining to do, I feel.

But Kevin Park, the true grassroots candidate, has explained himself rather well.   He deserves all of our support, and he's earned our votes this coming Tuesday.



Thanks for your continued support, and best regards,

William F. "Bill" Bailey, Treasurer,
http://www.SantaClaraPlaysFair.org/

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