Why special interests and big donors, not grassroots, will drive the money race in Santa Cruz’s housing measure election
Whether it’s a mano-a-mano battle on the wrestling mat, or a 5 v 5 on the hardwood, there is an old adage in sports about the importance of sticking to your identity within the game, no matter the challenger’s strengths. A basketball team that wins by playing slowly will struggle in trying to match the fast-break pace of an opponent.
In politics, versions of this strategy have also been employed to varying levels of success. Think back to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential run, or Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020, when the candidates held steadfast to their grassroots image by rejecting corporate PAC money, instead relying mostly on small donations to fuel their campaigns despite the institutional wealth they were up against.
Sometimes, however, the opponent is simply too big and too different, the match too important, to double down on your identity and buck adaptation. At least that appears to be the strategy in Santa Cruz, where the campaigns for two competing ballot measures are heating up.
On one side, Housing Santa Cruz County and Mayor Fred Keeley are pushing for the Workforce Housing Affordability Act of 2025, the development of which began in 2023 with a series of community meetings aimed at shaping, from the ground up, a ballot measure to impose new taxes and fund affordable housing construction.
However, the measure’s for-the-community, by-the-community narrative is being tested by its competition. The Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors has concocted its own ballot measure, primarily aimed at spoiling Housing Santa Cruz County’s. The realtors’ Workforce Housing and Climate Protection Act of 2025 carries less than half the financial impact of their opponents’ measure. Whichever measure gets more votes over 50% will pass.
The realtors’ lobby is particularly known to spend big in elections, pooling cash from its statewide and national special-interest PACs. That money has helped to topple Santa Cruz measures in the past: 2022’s empty homes tax, and the 2018 rent-control proposal.
Keeley, in his role as fundraiser-in-chief for Housing Santa Cruz County’s ballot measure, is well aware of that reputation and he isn’t relying on sportsball sages for money strategy, distinct grassroots image be damned.
Of the more than $185,000 the campaign has reported raising as of June 30, only $1,600, or less than 1%, has come from small donors. Almost all of it has flowed from nonprofit housing developers, political ally PACs and labor unions.
“I’m not going to go up against the California Association of Realtors, who have more money than god, with my arms tied behind my back,” said Keeley. “This is fighting fire with fire.”
Keeley said that he doesn’t foresee small, grassroots donations being a viable strategy against the real estate industry. He declined to say how much the campaign expected to raise, saying he didn’t “want to disclose what the artillery was capable of.” However, he did say he expected the realtors to raise around $500,000.
Victor Gomez, government affairs director for the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors, readily characterized his group’s campaign as inherently driven, and financed, by special interest, but argued the same is true for the other side.
“It’s funny, I think you can characterize both sides as Big Real Estate,” Gomez said. “It’s really big nonprofits against for-profits.”
OF NOTE
County government’s largest agency has a new boss: Santa Cruz County announced it was bringing Connie Moreno-Peraza to lead the Health Services Agency, less than two months after former director Monica Morales left town for a job in Yolo County. Moreno-Peraza, who most recently served as assistant director of behavioral health services in Ventura County, arrives amid a sea change that has taken shape in county leadership over the past year, from the sheriff to the county executive officer.
Policing power dispute in PVUSD: With the school year less than two weeks away, Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials are hammering out a new deal for on-campus law enforcement officers at Watsonville, Aptos and Pajaro Valley high schools, a debate is heating up over just what kinds of powers those campus enforcers should have.
Heightened watch on Bay: After a pedestrian was hit by a car on Bay Avenue last month, the sixth such incident since 2017, Capitola residents are urging city officials to find a solution that is more immediate than a long-range, $5 million roundabout construction project, my colleague William S. Woodhams reports.
POINTS FOR PARTICIPATION
A return of the supervisors: It’s been more than a month since the people we elect to set county policy and direction have met. On Tuesday, the board of supervisors will return from summer break to a rangey agenda, punctuated by a vote to overhaul the county’s vacation rental ordinance to cap the number of non-hosted rental permits, and enhance oversight. The board will also vote to remove the Redman-Hirahara House from its historical register, clearing the way for its demolition.
The rail and trail concept report gets a public reaction: A public hearing on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s detailed vision for passenger train service is set for Thursday, 9 a.m., at the Scotts Valley City Council Chamber. The public will get the chance to weigh in on the 312-page draft concept report for the project, which lays out details on everything from station design and travel times to costs. RTC staff will firm up the final report and bring it to the commission for approval in the fall. – Max Chun
ONE GREAT READ
An American team went to fight Haiti’s gangs. Its mission ended badly. By Frances Robles, David C. Adams and André Paultre for The New York Times
Since President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in 2021, Haiti has been overrun by warring gangs and increasing violence. The international community has largely turned away from sending military aid to the Caribbean nation, which forced its prime minister to turn toward private defense contractors, such as the U.S.-based Studebaker Defense and Blackwater, to train its national police and help regain control of the country.
Yet, as The New York Times reports, this strategy has struggled to find success, and a recent mission led by Studebaker was aborted and led to the abductions of a former Navy veteran and a Haitian police officer, and the loss of a cache of AR-15s.