Term limits measure for Santa Clara Valley Water District board holds lead

One of the more controversial measures on the ballot in Santa Clara County during the June 7 election has also turned out to be one of the most closely contested, with no clear winner more than two weeks later.

Measure A, which would extend the number of years that board members of the Santa Clara Valley Water District can remain in office by loosening existing rules, on June 13 was clinging to a 51%-49% lead.

On Election night, the measure led 55%-45%, a margin that has narrowed with each update in the count.

By midday on June 13, 87% of the vote had been tallied. But there are still about 36,000 ballots left to count, said Evelyn Mendez, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.

“We have been making pretty good progress on them as they come in,” Mendez said.

Under state law, ballots received up to a week after Election Day, in this case June 14, must still be counted as long as they were postmarked by Election Day, which was June 7 this year.

There are a number of other very close election contests in the South Bay, Mendez noted, citing Measure G, a $275 million bond measure to pay for libraries, classroom upgrades, new heating and air conditioning systems, fire sprinklers and other upgrades at aging schools at Fremont Union High School District.

That measure needs 55% to pass. On June 13, it led 55.57% to 44.43%.

County elections workers also are processing ballots that were returned from adjacent counties, such as by people who work in other counties, but live in Santa Clara County and dropped their ballot off near where they work, she said. And they are verifying signatures and processing ballots of people who registered on Election Day.

In the term limits measure, the board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, a government agency based in San Jose that provides water and flood protection to 2 million people, voted 4-3 earlier this year to spend $3.2 million to place the measure on the ballot.

After the district spent $60,000 for polls that found Santa Clara County voters opposed extending term limits for the board members, the board approved ballot language that critics said was deliberately misleading.

The ballot language didn't note that in 2010, voters had already voted to limit board members to three four-year terms. It asked instead if they wanted to “limit” the board members to serve four “four-year terms.”

It was approved by water district board members Tony Estremera, who has served 26 years on the board; Dick Santos, who has served 22 years; Gary Kremen, who has served eight and John Varela, who has served seven. It was opposed by board members Linda Lezotte (12 years); Nai Hsueh (10 years) and Barbara Keegan (10).

Estremera would be termed out of office this year, Santos in 2024.

Santos said he was watching the results carefully. He said he opposes term limits on principle, and that due to the severe drought, the community needs veterans on the water board.

“I'd hate to see it be defeated,” Santos said. “We have some very experienced people there. If it doesn't pass, the people are going to lose. Experience during this very serious emergency drought is important.”

Critics of the measure called it dishonest and deliberately misleading.

In an unusual move, the San Jose City Council voted 7-3 in April to formally oppose the measure and called on other cities in the area to also oppose it. Signing the ballot language in opposition was San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who called the measure “self-serving dishonesty.” Former county supervisor Blanca Alvarado, water district board members Lezotte and Hsueh, and Mark Hinkle, president of the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, also signed ballot language in opposition.

Signing the ballot language in favor of the measure was David Bini, executive director of the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council; Sammuel Washington, president of the Silicon Valley Black Chamber of Commerce; Victor Garza, president of La Raza Roundtable of California; and Dennis Murphy, an adviser to Sustainable Silicon Valley, a Sunnyvale nonprofit organization.

On June 13, Hinkle said he is considering filing a lawsuit if the measure squeaks by.

“It wasn't term limits. It was term expansion. It was misleading,” Hinkle said.