I was disappointed to see the cover of the Santa Clara Weekly for the week of October 19, 2016 and read the article by Carolyn Schuk on purported Fair Political Practices Commission (“FPPC”) violations by four city council candidates, including me. In much less time than it took to lay out the cover of the newspaper, your reporter could have contacted me to ask for my reaction to the complaint filed by a resident with a pattern of filing questionable legal actions against other Santa Clara residents. I would have welcomed the opportunity to confirm that my campaign paid the Santa Clara Registrar of Voters $92 for an electronic file of Santa Clara voters and that Mr. Barry is not acting as my campaign consultant. I have not said to anyone that he is. While I consider Mr. Barry a friend, I have not directly spoken with him in approximately two months. As is the case with errors in reporting, I fear that the correction will not get nearly the attention as the incorrect allegation. The voter file expenditure was not listed separately as expenses under $100 are aggregated under FPPC rules. Please see the attached cancelled check for the voter file.
