Money and Politics in Clovis

Money and Politics in Clovis
By Mike Rhodes
March 9, 2005

Clovis is often referred to as a "Way of Life." This city of 81,000 residents, just East of Fresno, held elections for the City Council yesterday. Out of 40,382 registered voters, only 6,237 people voted, for a total voter turn out of 15.4%. Out of those voting, 4,444 voted by absentee ballot.

There were three candidates running for two seats on the City Council. Two of the candidates, Lynn Ashbeck and Nathan Magsig, are the incumbents. They are both Republicans. The challenger was John Crockford, a member of the Peace and Freedom Party. Crockford received 1,610 votes for 14.4% of the total. He believes that the election was not held on a level playing field. Speaking after the results were in, Crockford said "money was the determining factor in the race."

The incumbents had the backing of the traditional sources of power in Clovis - developers, the Chamber of Commerce, and special interests. One of the special interests in this race was the Clovis Firefighters. The firefighters, who were given a generous salary increase in their last contract with the city, rewarded each of the incumbents with 46 donations of $100 each.

While Crockford may have received the endorsement of the Fresno County Central Labor Council, their support was no match for the well funded campaigns of the incumbents. In the most recent figures available from the elections department, Crockford had raised about $7,700. Lynn Ashbeck had $73,000 and Nathan Magsig had $88,000 to spend on the campaign.

Money matters. Just ask Clovis political consultant Mark Scozzari who said "it would take about $40-50,000 to have a chance to win a city council race in Clovis." Scozzari added that "a lot would depend on name recognition" and that you have to have a significant amount of money to run a viable campaign.

With voter turn out so low, Crockford’s campaign strategy was to get out the vote in the poor and working class neighborhoods of Clovis. Crockford estimated "that there are 8-9,000 people who live in these areas and who voted in the last election." The strategy was to reach out to these voters and to get them to vote for a candidate who would represent their interests. Those issues included a plan to increase affordable housing, improve public transportation, and support for a living wage. Crockford also sought to build an alliance with small business owners in downtown Clovis who are being threatened with the development of a Wal Mart Super store in the area.

Without money, it was hard for Crockford to get his message out. He organized volunteers to go door to door during the last two weekends of the campaign. Volunteers also phoned prospective voters during the last two days before the election. It was not enough to move voters to the polls.

One of the reasons for the low voter turn out could be the scheduling of the elections so they are not in sync with other state or national elections. Even the winner in this election, Lynn Ashbeck, said in an interview with The Fresno Bee that it might be time to look at a different way to run the council elections. With 71.3% of voters using an absentee ballot in this election, it would be crucial for a campaign to develop a strategy to get out the vote for people using this method of voting.

Crockford said he had problems getting the absentee ballot list from the City of Clovis. "I spoke with city officials about the list of voters receiving absentee ballots and they said they would give me a copy when the ballots were mailed out. I specifically asked for the list but did not receive it until two weeks after the other two candidates got the list." In a race where the vast majority of voters cast their ballots by mail, this put the Crockford campaign at a disadvantage.

"Another problem was that I paid for a billboard to be put up during this race. First, it was late to go up and then they took it down before the election was over. What’s up with that?" Crockford did not say that there was a conspiracy against his campaign, "but there certainly was not a level playing field."

What’s next for Crockford? In an interview after the results were in on election night, he said he was interested in running again in two years. He will also be working to build the Fresno County Peace and Freedom Party and as chairperson of the Central Valley Progressive Political Action Committee, he will keep involved in electoral politics. You can reach him at john@crockford.org

See an earlier Indymedia story about the John Crockford campaign here: http://sfbay.indymedia.org/news/2005/01/1712947.php