Editorial: Kniss for county supervisor

Palo Alto mayor is the most experienced and capable of being an effective leader

A three-way race for county supervisor from the northern Santa Clara County fifth district in last March's primary election is now down to two: Palo Alto mayor and high-tech marketing manager Liz Kniss and Cupertino high school teacher and Foothill-DeAnza college trustee Dolly Sandoval.

Kniss beat out Sandoval 43 percent to 34 percent in the primary, while county planning commissioner and Palo Alto resident Terry Trumbull received 24 percent of the vote. The district, currently represented by Joe Simitian (who has endorsed Kniss) covers Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Saratoga and a part of Sunnyvale.

One is hard-pressed to find policy differences between Kniss and Sandoval. Both are Democrats, and both identify affordable housing, open space protection, transportation and education as important priorities.

Sandoval, 39, has shown herself to be a tough campaigner and has by no means surrendered the critical Palo Alto area vote to Kniss. She has targeted environmentalists, some of whom believe Kniss is too moderate on Stanford land use matters, and has tried to capitalize on some of the recent Palo Alto City Council controversies--such as the storm-drain-fee ballot and the handling of the JCC s need to move from its Terman site.

Sandoval has also managed to tap into some of those Palo Alto residents who believe long-time elected officials such as Kniss have lost touch with the community and the needs of younger families.

But much as we have been critical of the Palo Alto City Council, we don t find these to be genuine issues separating the candidates in this race.

Kniss, 62, is a strong environmentalist and has been clear in her support for the maximum possible open space requirements of Stanford. The difference is that Kniss doesn t try to advocate for things that may be politically appealing but which have no legal way of being achieved.

Like current Supervisor Joe Simitian, Kniss believes more can be accomplished by taking firm but legally defensible positions on open space rather than advocate for more than what the law will support.

If Kniss has a weakness relevant in this election, it is her inclination to work too much behind the scenes on important issues--sometimes leaving her colleagues or community members in the dark or feeling steam-rolled. Kniss is extremely effective in private negotiations, as evidenced by her recent successes with Stanford on both the relocation of housing from the golf course and obtaining the former Mayfield School site to house the JCC.

But she can be a bit dismissive of community members raising new concerns or issues. For example, she eventually played a leadership role in toning down the historic preservation ordinance in Palo Alto, but for far too long seemed unimpressed by the concerns being expressed by critics.

Sandoval, a Los Gatos High School math teacher who has served on the Foothill-DeAnza Community College Board of Trustees since 1991, has done a commendable job at helping the college district through some very challenging financial and operational times. She is a hard worker and has cultivated political support from Democratic party and labor union leaders in addition to the education and environmental community.

But her limited experience as an elected official doesn't begin to compare with the myriad of highly controversial and complex matters Kniss has had to address as a member of the Palo Alto school board and city council over the last 15 years.

Indeed, Kniss brings an ideal mix of experience to the office of county supervisor. In addition to her elected offices, which included two terms as mayor and one as president of the school board, she has been a marketing communications manager at Sun Microsystems and worked as a public heath nurse earlier in her career. Her master s degree in business administration and health care policy, one of the most important responsibilities of county government, round out her experience.

Sandoval's enthusiasm and education experience just don't compare to the credentials Kniss offers. We recommend Liz Kniss for Santa Clara County Supervisor representing the fifth district.

-jt

Back up to the Table of Contents Page