In 2007, I helped found Santa Clara Plays Fair, the grassroots group that organized against a public subsidy for a 49ers stadium, a fight that became Measure J in 2010. I know what it’s like to run a campaign against the 49ers’ money. We were outspent roughly 160 to 1: more than $4 million from the team against our roughly $25,000. I have no illusions about what this team is willing to spend to promote its positions and its preferred candidates in Santa Clara.
So I find the current hand-wringing over 49ers spending more than a little rich, especially from people who were on the other side of that fight.
Lisa Gillmor chaired Santa Clarans for Economic Progress, the Yes on J committee funded by the 49ers in 2010. Kathy Watanabe was an enthusiastic volunteer for that same campaign, appearing in Yes on J television ads, and was an active and often combative presence toward those of us who opposed the stadium subsidy, myself included. Both of them know, firsthand, exactly how much this team is willing to spend to promote its positions, because they were part of that effort themselves. So the spending itself isn’t new; what’s new is that it’s now being turned against the people who once benefited from it.
When Santa Clara Plays Fair fought Measure J, we didn’t spend our limited time and resources complaining about how outmatched we were financially. We focused on the substance: the real problems with asking Santa Clara taxpayers to subsidize an NFL stadium. We didn’t win. Measure J passed with about 58 percent of the vote. But we earned roughly four in ten votes against a campaign that outspent us 160 to 1, and I’m convinced we would have fared far worse had we spent our energy complaining about the money instead of making our case on the merits.
That experience is why I want to offer voters something more useful than complaints: a plain explanation of what’s landing in your mailbox.
Many of those mailers come from independent expenditure committees. California law allows individuals, businesses, unions, trade associations, and other organizations to form committees that spend money to support or oppose candidates. Over the years, Santa Clara voters have seen them from labor, public safety associations, developers, business groups, and the 49ers, among others. Like any other business, organization, or resident of this city, the 49ers have every right to take part in our elections this way.
The key word is “independent.” These committees must operate completely separately from the candidates they’re talking about. A candidate can’t coordinate with them, direct how they spend their money, approve their messages, or even ask them to start or stop. And because courts have recognized a First Amendment right to spend money on speech about elections, independent committees aren’t subject to the caps that apply to direct contributions or to the city’s voluntary spending limit.
Independent support is also never guaranteed, and it isn’t a promise of anything. In past elections, the 49ers created independent expenditure committees to support the council campaigns of Karen Hardy in 2022 and Kevin Park in 2020 and 2024. This year, both are running for mayor, and the team is not supporting either of them—they have chosen to support a different candidate. Committees make their own decisions, and those decisions can change from one election to the next.
So here is my advice, drawn from having been on the other side of a lopsided campaign: go to the source. Read the candidates’ ballot statements and websites. Contact them with your own questions. Watch the recorded candidate forums, including the Sept. 27 forum co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, and San José Spotlight. Then weigh each candidate’s knowledge of local issues, record of service, and preparation for the role.
Mailers can be one input. But your decision should rest on what you learn firsthand: how well each candidate understands the issues facing our neighborhoods, what they have actually done for this community, and whether they have put in the work to be ready on day one. It shouldn’t rest on who is spending money for or against someone. In 2010, we couldn’t match the other side’s budget, so we made our case on the issues. Voters should expect the same from every candidate today.
Michele Ryan
Former Chair
Santa Clara Plays Fair