By Eliza Ridgeway
After a relatively tranquil election forum, the Los Altos Hills City Council race heated up last week when former city councilman Steve Finn sent residents a mailer lambasting incumbent candidate Breene Kerr for potential conflicts of interest.
The letter, which advised residents to vote only for challenger John Vidovich, criticized both Kerr and incumbent candidate Dean Warshawsky, but focused on Kerr’s association with companies that worked on the new town hall and solar energy.
“Kerr continues to push his green thumb on residents who apply for permits,” Finn wrote. “The council has … allowed blatant conflict of interests of Breene Kerr with a blind eye.”
In response, Kerr wrote, “As a person who works for a living, I have contacts with a large number of companies in Silicon Valley. In consultation with the Town attorney, I have recused myself from discussion and council votes a number of times, including the discussion of the famous ‘energy efficiency ordinance.’”
As the race has shaped up, Vidovich and Kerr have emerged as outspoken opponents, locking horns at an Oct. 9 election forum, while Warshawsky has taken a quieter role.
Although they share many endorsements, Kerr and Warshawsky are not running on identical slates. Warshawsky expressed a wait-and-see attitude on the question of wildlife and fencing in town, while Kerr disputed Vidovich’s claim that there is an increasing wildlife threat.
“I like seeing the deer and the animals, I’m not threatened by them - I think they’re a valuable part of our community,” Kerr said. “I would prefer not to see us become a gated community like Atherton.”
The first half of the forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, centered on the issue of school redistricting. Warshawsky and Kerr said they stand by the petition for redistricting they signed as city councilmen.
“The idea of reorganization, I support,” Warshawsky said, and Kerr has said the same. Kerr has also joined the Los Altos School District’s planning committee for the contested Bullis-Purissima Elementary site and expressed cautious optimism that the town might at some point take on a more cooperative role with the district.
Because the town’s redistricting campaign coincides with the council race, the council and its incumbent candidates, Kerr and Warshawsky, have had to consider potential conflicts of interest in planning for the two campaigns.
The council voted last Thursday to delay sending residents notice of an upcoming public informational meeting on redistricting until the day after the election. The session, scheduled Nov. 15, will be a special meeting of the city council.
Other redistricting moves have already collided with the council race, notably a September poll for the town’s reorganization committee that asked political questions about the upcoming election. The poll, which according to David Binder Associates found that 53 percent of residents favor a new, locally controlled school district, also asked residents for whom they would vote in the upcoming race.
Kerr and Warshawsky dismissed the contention that their campaigns will benefit from the poll, which has been made public only in a limited form.
“I only saw the two-page summary,” Warshawsky said. “I will say with 100 percent certainty, the results that I saw were the results that anyone in the public could also see.”
As of his Oct. 5 financial report, Warshawsky had raised the most campaign funds from town residents, $10,799. He had spent $9,030. Kerr raised $9,900 and spent $5,225. Vidovich, who did not accept campaign contributions, reported $15,000 in funding from his business, De Anza Building and Maintenance Inc. He spent $5,482.
“I mailed back campaign contributions because I don’t want to be beholden to anybody,” Vidovich said. “I don’t want to have the appearance of being partial. For the same reason, I made the promise to not develop or do business in the town of Los Altos Hills.”
Both Kerr and Warshawsky received donations from Bullis Charter School Principal Wanny Hersey and Board Chairman Ken Moore. All 11 members of the town education committee that recommended redistricting have endorsed Warshawsky.
