THE MODESTO MAYOR’S RACE OF 1999

The 1999 election for Modesto Mayor began with a familiar cast of characters and a sense of déjà vu among local political insiders.

For the fifth time since 1975, restaurateur, retired schoolteacher and political activist Carmen Sabatino would be facing his arch rival, incumbent Mayor Dick Lang.    In the previous contests – in 1991 and 1995 – Sabatino had challenged Lang for the Mayor’s seat.  The first two contests between them had been for a City Council seat.

The one wild card in this face-off was the entry of City Councilwoman Kenni Friedman.  Lang had been in office, as either a Councilman or Mayor, for 22 years.   Anti-incumbent sentiment was stirring, and many observers gave Friedman good odds of winning.

In Modesto, “nonpartisan” races are anything but nonpartisan.  Lang was a leading Republican, who had once made a run for the State Assembly.  Friedman was a left-of-center Democrat who had first come into office as part of a slow-growth movement.  Sabatino was a registered Democrat, and enjoyed the support of the County Democratic Central Committee, although his views made him the most fiscally conservative of the three.  He was strongly supported by the Stanislaus County Taxpayers Association.

Sabatino began the 1999 campaign with his own money and only a handful of volunteers.  He lacked an organization, and all the city’s key endorsers were behind either Lang or Friedman.  However, an early automated poll revealed surprising support for Sabatino.  In that poll, the undecided responses were slightly higher than the Lang support, and it was Sabatino – not Friedman – who came in second behind Lang.  In spite of her well-funded effort and high name recognition, Friedman trailed Sabatino by six points in the benchmark survey.  It was clear that Friedman was not being perceived as a viable alternative to Lang during this period of anti-incumbent voter sentiment.

Sabatino not only used automated calling for surveys, but that inexpensive technology was his primary tactical medium in getting his message to voters.  The message was simple, and it resonated with voters.  It was:  “We must get back to providing basic services; we must put our City back on the road to fiscal solvency; we must hold the line on new taxes and fees.”

Several phone messages went out as “voter alerts.”  These drew attention to some of the more egregious fiscal misdeeds of the Mayor and City Council, including an illegal sewer fee increase and a clandestine campaign poll which had been illegally conducted with taxpayer dollars.  These automated phone messages were supported with newspaper and radio ads.

Local media provided a mixed message during this period.  The prevailing political power in the community, The Modesto Bee, refused to report on Sabatino’s issues, while a local conservative radio talk show had a field day with them.  Modesto Bee publisher Orage Quarles told Sabatino, “My guys hate you, and I asked them if they had an exit strategy if you win.”  The Bee editorial staff assured Quarles it could not happen.

Ironically, it was the Bee – and “sleaze king” George Petrulakis – that contributed to the downfall of Dick Lang in that election.  For a full year prior to the election the Bee bashed Lang in order to clear the way for Councilwoman Friedman.  The Bee’s message was:  “We need a new Mayor.”  When Sabatino quoted that phrase in the run-off election, he was threatened with a copyright lawsuit.  His response to the Bee threat was:  “You said we need a new Mayor – you didn’t say any one but Sabatino.”

By mid October, Sabatino was firmly in control of the issues, even forcing the Bee to publish a report on the illegal tax-funded political survey done by the City.  At this point, Friedman shifted her campaign message, with a huge cable TV buy aimed at separating herself from Lang – while attempting to lay all the blame for the City’s problems at Lang’s feet.

Notwithstanding this massive media blitz by Friedman, Sabatino’s tracking surveys showed that she was not gaining support – in fact, it was Sabatino’s campaign that seemed to be gaining from her new and more aggressive effort.

Suddenly, the Sabatino campaign began to receive donations from “the little people” who were not the regular political players in the community.  Letters of support began to show up in the paper, and supportive phone calls began to come in to the local talk show.  Something was happening.

Shock waves erupted in the City of Modesto on Election Night, November 2.  When the votes were counted, Lang had 35%, Sabatino had 32%, and Friedman a meager 25%.  A fourth candidate, who had never mounted a campaign, had 8%.  This placed Sabatino and Lang in a runoff race to be held six weeks later.

Campaign financial reporting showed that Lang had outspent Sabatino by a factor of more than six to one.  Friedman had outspent Sabatino by almost five to one.

On the morning of Wednesday, November 3, 1999, it was impossible to get a seat in Sabatino’s restaurant, as supporters piled in to congratulate him.  From that point forward, campaign money and volunteers appeared in abundance.

At the same time, certain developers, who were heavily invested in the incumbent Mayor, went into panic mode, and contrived a vicious smear mailer against Sabatino in an effort to keep Mayor Lang in office, as he faced Sabatino in the one-to-one runoff.  That mailer, which set a new record for sleaze in Modesto campaigns, backfired.  Word came from the County Elections Office that people who had already cast their mail-in votes for Lang were calling and asking if they could change their vote.  A similar smear mailer came a few days later, this one directly from the Lang campaign.  The voter backlash against Lang only worsened.

The result?  Sabatino capped his 25-year run for City office with a five point victory over Lang.  However, the Bee, developer Mike Zagaris, attorney George Petrulakis, and other Sabatino detractors were not willing to give up the fight.  They knew that they couldn’t take Sabatino down in a straightforward election, so they began to seek out other, more devious means to accomplish his defeat when he was up for re-election in 2003.

But that’s a whole new chapter in the saga of “who controls Modesto.”