Letter: Civility, please

A pair of nasty, misleading and ill-advised attack mailers directed at Yoriko Kishimoto, Assembly District 21 candidate, by the South Bay Labor Council mars a positive Democratic primary, while it reveals pivotal opportunities for leadership. The $70,000 expenditure, thinly-veiled around transportation policy, provides ghost-like candidate headshots, surrounded by traffic jams, warning signs and sarcastic text. Kishimoto, former Palo Alto mayor and eight-year councilwoman, is an expert on transportation and a public servant of the highest integrity. She has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to the public interest, in-depth study and reasoned analysis and an ever-present civility.

In a characteristic moment, she has adopted the mailers as a badge of honor, a sign that she cannot be bought, and she sets forth a worthy challenge to her reputable competitors, Supervisor Rich Gordon and entrepreneur Josh Becker. This kind of tactic is a disservice to the public, the candidates, the party and to labor. To stop it, the two other candidates need to denounce it now. It is a moment of key decision for Rich Gordon. He is the choice of the South Bay Labor Council and the recipient of significant contributions from its membership. His campaign made a $2,500 donation to the Labor Council for seats at their May awards dinner. His campaign manager says there is no connection. But that is not a sufficient response. Rich Gordon is a good man, and he is now called upon to act. The clarity and timing of his direct and public response to these negative attacks will be a telling indicator, not only of the future of such tactics in this district, but also to the extent of his leadership and independence if the public sends him to Sacramento.

Fred Balin

Palo Alto