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| Santa Clara VTA | Riders Union |
SCVTARU learned in January 2006, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) performed a survey of over 1,000 potential voters throughout Santa Clara County.
That survey gauged public opinion and support for two (2) possible ballot measures. One ballot measure dealt with a proposed 1/2-cent sales tax for Santa Clara County for general purposes. The other ballot measure proposal involved a 1/4-cent or 1/2-cent sales tax by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority for bringing BART to San Jose, as well as other public transit and highway purposes.
Several sources forwarded to SCVTARU a letter from SVLG President and CEO Carl Guardino announcing the results of this survey. The letter is featured below in its entirety. A response to the SVLG announcement from SCVTARU Founder Eugene Bradley below the letter.
SVLG President and CEO Carl Guardino's Letter Announcing the Survey's Results
From: Carl Guardino Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 3:46 PM Subject: Survey Results - Potential County Measure Dear Colleague: As you probably know, SVLG and a number of key community partners recently partnered on two comprehensive public opinion surveys on issues of importance to our Valley's economy and working families. Below is a summary of those results along with several possible policy options SVLG and other transportation advocates might pursue in light of those results. The pollster, one of the best in the State, was Jim Moore of Moore Methods. Jim has been the successful pollster on more transportation initiatives than anyone else in the State of California, including all of the successful measures that we have collectively led here in our Valley. Partner organizations who commissioned the survey include the following: AFL/CIO Central Labor Council, Association of General Contractors, ATU, Building and Construction Trades, CELSOC, California Alliance for Jobs, Bay Area Council, San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. The two surveys received combined input from 1,300 likely voters in Santa Clara County. We tested several important issues, including the potential general purpose quarter-cent sales tax that the Board of Supervisors is pondering to place onto the ballot, the potential quarter-cent sales tax that the VTA Board is considering to place onto the ballot, a "no-new revenue" scenario for the VTA Board to consider, and voters views on a variety of other topics and iterations of the items listed above. Since this information may be used for ballot campaigns, and as always, was funded without any public dollars, the results will stay confidential. However, there is some general information we want to make sure that you - as a key stakeholder - are aware of: 1.. Concerns about the direction of our Nation, State, County and even local communities, are much higher than normal. This is also true when we specifically ask about the State Legislature, Board of Supervisors and Local City Councils. A bright spot is that the Valley Transportation Authority performance, while still not high, has rebounded considerably since the last two surveys that we have commissioned. 2.. Voters recall the Year 2000 Measure A, and there is no buyers' remorse. Three-fourths of the voters state that they recall Measure A. When asked the follow-up question as to how they voted, their memory is almost dead-on. The actual Measure A passed with 70.4 percent support. When questioned nearly six years later, 69 percent recall voting in favor of the measure, with only 15 percent stating that they voted against it. Voters not only remember their vote, but there is no "buyer's remorse." 3.. When we ask them to rank the priorities for the top five capital construction projects in Measure A - the results are very clear: Voters countywide, and in all five County Supervisorial Districts, rank BART to Santa Clara County as their top priority. The number two, three and four priorities are very close together - with CalTrain Service and Station Improvements, two new Light Rail Lines, and a People Mover to San Jose International Airport all important improvements. Fifth on the list, the lowest priority by far both countywide and in all five Supervisorial Districts, is the "Electrification" of CalTrain. 4.. Voters were provided with the cost of local capital construction, annual operating costs, the percent the entire project represented to the sales tax funds projected, and the estimated average daily ridership. This is important so that folks don't think they can afford a "Porsche" for the cost of a "Pinto." When provided with that detailed data, the priorities stayed the same, with BART overwhelmingly number one, and CalTrain electrification at the bottom of the list. 5.. The potential Countywide general purpose tax was also tested. Since the Board of Supervisors used taxpayer dollars to fund their own poll on the topic several weeks ago, we were able to use their specific ballot language in our poll. While we asked more "positive push questions" than "negative push questions," we found that the likelihood of passage of a quarter-cent general purpose tax in a contested campaign is on the bubble. The county would need a very well funded campaign, and would need a very poorly funded and poorly organized opposition campaign, in order to be successful. As SVLG stated in an email comment to the San Jose Mercury News on November, 17, 2005 regarding positive prospects for a general sales tax, "At a time when there is so much cynicism toward government, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group is heartened that so may voters recognize the vital services our County provides." 6.. When testing the possibility of both a county general purpose tax and a specific transportation tax both appearing on the ballot at the same time, the likelihood is high that they would both fail. 7.. Interestingly, if the county and the transportation advocates worked together - even though the total (a combined half-cent) would be the same as two competing quarter-cent measures - the chances of winning are very strong. 8.. Finally, we tested several "no new revenue" scenarios as it relates to the transportation measure. This included a "Full BART Option" and a "partial, or No-BART, Option." While we could not test every potential iteration of such scenarios, it appears clear that a "Full BART Option" would be the clear "winner" in a head-to-head match-up with a "partial BART" or "no BART" option presented to taxpayers/voters. Over the coming weeks, we will continue to share this information, in even greater details, with key public and private sector leaders. Our goal is to bring people together, build consensus as we build a better community, and see if we can solve some of our Valley's most pressing problems. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know. Best, Carl Guardino ********************************************* Carl Guardino President & CEO Silicon Valley Leadership Group 224 Airport Parkway, Suite 620 San Jose, California 95110 Phone: 408/501-7864 Fax: 408/501-7861 ******************************************
Response To the Announcement from SCVTARU Founder Eugene Bradley
The following is SCVTARU Founder Eugene Bradley's response to Carl's letter. Part of that response appeared in a Gilroy Dispatch article on Guardino's survey results on January 30, 2006:
From looking at Carl's letter, it is evident he wanted to time the release of the survey results to coincide with the (deferred again) February 2 sales tax vote. Clearly the goal was to ensure the sales tax measure was put on the November 2006 ballot. Without the actual questions publically available, I personally consider Carl's letter and announcement to be fraudulent. For all that is known now, all 1,300 people surveyed could have been members of the labor and business communities who would benefit financially from passage of either sales tax measure. It is yet another example of VTA basing government policy and fiscal responsibility on polls sponsored by the business and labor community. Per page 6 of the 2004 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report on VTA: "It is the fiducial responsibility of the Board, not a committee, a business lobbying group, or business community leaders, to provide oversight and direction." Carl's strategy for combining the county general use and transit sales taxes into one package is to guarantee victory. He knew from the surveys he had Jim Moore (Methods) of Sacramento take that the sales tax proposals could not stand on their own. As was brought up here, sales tax in this county is already high enough at 8.25%. Imagine living or doing business in a county with an 8.75% sales tax. This strategy has precedence in history. Remember at this time in 2000 when Measure A was in the backroom planning stages? Initial surveys from what was then the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group stated such a sales tax with just BART would not pass. But throw in transit projects such as extra commuter rail and bus service, and new light rail lines, and it ended up getting the approval in the surveys, and eventually at the ballot box. Eugene Bradley Founder, Santa Clara VTA Riders Union http://www.vtaridersunion.org/ Yahoo!/AOL messenger: eegenebradley
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