Southern California wins in Santa Clara County!!! (But let's not get cocky.)
Dudes! Dudes! Dudes! What a righteous victory for Southern California Realtors against the Santa Clara County environment. Sure, it's a one-percent margin of victory, but we certainly weren't going to buy us a landslide up there.
Please folks, credit where due - it was OUR money that decided this. Socal realtors brought in $300,000, and the National Realtors sent $200,000 from Chicago. If it had been Bay Area realtors versus Bay Area enviros, Measure A would have been a landslide Yes vote. Props to us!
When talking money, we need to stop for a minute though, and think about the sacrifice this entailed. It was a half-million dollars spent on defense - had it not been for Measure A, we could have spent that money weakening environmental rules elsewhere. Instead we had to spend that money just treading water, and keeping environmental rules from getting better.
And there's that County Viewshed Protection Ordinance, the one we told people we were so supportive of. Last year our friends up there were trying to kill the thing - we had to pretend that we're into "collaboration." So another sacrifice - the viewshed protection could've been weaker or non-existent if it hadn't been for the meddling Measure A folks.
But enought of that! We won! We, the Southern California Realtors, won! And we remember why! As we just said, it was our money, but that's not all - we said Proposition 90 would pass and bankrupt the County if Measure A passed. Of course it wasn't going to pass and Measure A was designed to drop provisions that Prop. 90 would require payments for, but who cares, we won!
And then all the reasons we've trumpeted here on our blog got us our victory:
Putting No on A signs on client's property without their permission, driving away potential customers to advance our politics.
Sending out political mailers that imply Democratic leaders oppose Measure A and state that environmental leaders also oppose it.
Getting Supervisor Pete McHugh to say that cell phone networks would be prohibited when they aren't, and spreading his quote everywhere.
Saying Measure A set minimum parcel sizes of 160 acres everywhere when it doesn't.
Obscuring the financial link Norm Matteoni's firm appears to have to our side, referring to him as "former County Counsel" instead.
Saying Measure A would reduce affordable housing when it doesn't.
And much much more we didn't have time to get into in this blog. All the above is why we won. It is what we are proud of, what we represent.
The key to all this is business. These are the values we bring to business, and we find them equally useful in politics. So remember when dealing with us, you can trust us! Right?
Party on, dudes!