Our View: Turlock needs Tin Cup rule after all
You can find lots of things at farmers markets – tree-ripened fruits, fresh eggs, specialty cheeses, even collectibles. Next time we visit Turlock’s farmers market, we’ll be looking for a Tin Cup.
That’s because we’re not going to find one at the Turlock City Council’s special meeting Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. at City Hall.
The Turlock Certified Farmers Market is a community success story. After a previous market failed, farmers, shoppers and others began collaborating to develop a better, more sustainable market. Launched in 2009, in six years the nonprofit market is staffed mostly by volunteers and has become an extremely popular seasonal event. It has moved downtown on Saturdays, providing quality food, entertainment, demonstrations and lots of foot traffic.
It’s become so successful that a local businessman has decided he can do it better. Peter Cipponeri, a 23-year-old farmer whose family operates a booth at the market, wants to displace the current nonprofit with a for-profit market – same spot, same day, same time.
Usually, an interloping market would be told to find another location. Instead, the City Council insists it must entertain this hostile takeover bid due to unclear rules. At its special session Saturday, the council will discuss clarifying rules for any such proposal – including for this farmers market.
Mayor Gary Soiseth insists that if he hadn’t brought the permit process to the council, Cipponeri’s attempt to claim the time and spot for his for-profit market would be a done deal simply because he got there first with his request for a street-closure permit.
We doubt it’s that simple. An ongoing market isn’t the same as a one-time festival or church bazaar. Did the city establish deadlines? How far in advance can such requests be made? Are there rules for notification of permit holders?
In laying out a process for choosing who runs the farmers market, the council faces a decision that could – in effect – take something the community has built and turn it over to a well-connected private party. Eminent domain in reverse.
Naturally, there’s more to it. Bee reporter Garth Stapley pointed out Sunday that Cipponeri is married to the daughter of Turlock businessman Matt Swanson – a political donor to every council member. Most significantly, Swanson and his various businesses and family members contributed $12,000 to Mayor Soiseth’s campaign. Vice Mayor Amy Bublak and councilmen Matthew Jacob, Bill DeHart Jr. and Steven Nascimento have gotten from $4,300 to $1,000.
Did Swanson stack the deck for this specific issue? Probably not. It’s more likely he just likes having friends in high places – as many businesspeople do.
Our problem is with the council, whose members don’t consider having taken such large contributions a conflict of interest.
Which brings us to that Tin Cup we’ve been searching for.
Tin Cup (Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics) ordinances are meant to deprive big political donors of influence over elected officials. Under Tin Cup rules, if someone gives you $2,000 or $3,000, you can’t vote on issues benefiting them. Modesto has had such an ordinance for 30 years; other cities have them, too.
Two years ago, Nascimento proposed a Tin Cup ordinance for Turlock. Expressing outrage that anyone would suggest their votes could be influenced, other council members shot it down. Now his concerns appear to have been justified, if not prescient. If Turlock had passed the rule, Bublak, Soiseth and possibly DeHart would be ineligible to vote on this issue.
Before grappling with how to proceed Saturday, Soiseth and Bublak should explain the limits for their participation. If the rules they establish impact who gets the market, they should step away.
Maybe this controversy over the farmers market will help Turlock’s City Council finally find that Tin Cup it so desperately needs.
This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 6:56 AM with the headline "Our View: Turlock needs Tin Cup rule after all."