SVGOP Message to San José Voters: NO on Measure i

By Shane Patrick Connolly

In November 2020, voters across Santa Clara County and throughout California rejected the Democratic legislature’s attempt to remove from the State Constitution the provision that prohibits government institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, in public employment, contracting, and education. The voters reaffirmed Rev. Martin Luther King Junior’s vision of a nation of equal treatment under the law, where each individual is judged by the content of one’s character and not immutable characteristics that were an accident of one’s birth.

Now, politicians in San José are attempting to put the concepts of “race”, “social justice”, and “equity” at the forefront of all City decision-making, as a part of changes to the City Charter found in Measure i. Further, Measure i would place non-citizens on quasi-judicial boards & commissions. The Santa Clara County Republican Party voted unanimously to advise voters to REJECT Measure i.

San José Measure i consolidates four unrelated recommendations brought to the City Council by the City’s Charter Commission. It was placed on the ballot by the City Council with only one dissenting vote. This grab-bag of recommendations ranges from the seemingly innocuous to the insidious as follows:

• • Measure i adds the Board of Fair Campaign and Political Practices (“Elections Commission”) to the City Charter. This measure expands the Board’s role in elections and sets the stage for the radical, costly idea of non-citizen voting.
  • Measure i removes the requirement that members of the Planning, Civil Service, and Salary Setting Commissions be electors and/or citizens. In other words, non-citizens could be making quasi-judicial decisions about San Jose development projects, appeals over employment actions, and the pay and benefits of City Councilmembers. This could subject the decisions of these boards and commissions to legal challenge and move San José closer to non-citizen voting.
  • Measure i removes gender-specific language from the City Charter. All references that currently read “he or she”, or “him or her”, will be changed to read “they” or “them” – even where it would be grammatically incorrect. This is yet another Woke, Orwellian attempt by the far left wing of the Democratic Party to force radical gender theory on citizens.
  • Measure i requires the City Council to adopt “equity values, standards, and assessments.” It adds the Woke terms “Race”, “Equity”, and “Social Justice”, to the City Charter and it makes these considerations CENTRAL to ALL CITY DECISION-MAKING. Inserting “race” – along with the ill-defined terms of “equity” and “social justice” – into our City Charter will be used to divide people by color or ethnic heritage. This provision of Measure i is antithetical to the values embodied in the American Bill of Rights – values that Americans of all backgrounds strongly embrace.

It’s important that San José voters send a clear message that we stand for EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL AMERICANS with a resounding NO vote on Measure i.

Shane Patrick Connolly is Chairman of the Santa Clara County Republican Party.  www.svgop.com