Palo Alto Daily                                                         February 23, 2002

Mayor knows critics by any name they use

Kara Chalmers

Daily News Staff Writer

Using a fake name to call Mountain View Mayor Sally Lieber and grill her about her past won't work. At least it didn't work yesterday when Lieber and other candidates for state Assembly were being interviewed on the radio.

Two of Lieber's critics, one of whom gave the name "Jenny," called KQED-FM yesterday as Lieber and her opponents, Rod Diridon Jr. and Rosemary Stasek, were taking calls on the

air.

The three candidates running in the March 5 primary for the Democratic nomination sounded off about what sets them apart from each other on the hour-long "Friday Forum" program. They spoke about their views on housing and transportation and answered questions from listeners.

"Jenny" asked Lieber where she worked as a wallpaper-hanger and to which union she belonged.

Lieber responded that she worked in San

Francisco and Detroit but was not a union member. She said she is a labor activist,

though.

Lieber then said she thought "Jenny" was using a fake name.

"She's someone who's known to us in Mountain View," Lieber said.

The second critical caller was Valerie Harris, who didn't give a fake name and asked Lieber why people have yanked their endorsements of her campaign. Lieber identified Harris as one of the leaders of the move to recall her from council.

"People aren't interested in negative campaigning," Lieber said, after clearing up exactly who has pulled their endorsements of her.

Corporate backing

The show's host, Angie Coiro, made the observation that all the candidates are white and middle-class. She asked what each has done to reach out to other groups that are part of the diverse Assembly District 22.

Stasek said she has gained the support of the Indian-American population in the district and Diridon noted that the NAACP gave him high marks and La Raza Roundtable endorsed him.

What Lieber said sets her apart from opponent Diridon is that she is not a "corporate candidate."

"I've been endorsed by folks like the United Farm Workers," she said.

While no corporations have endorsed Lieber, Diridon sure has a long list, which includes Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Compaq and Agilent Technologies. Diridon bills himself as a moderate Democratic who is socially compassionate but who understands that the success of high-tech companies is integral to the district he hopes to represent.

Radio Career?

At the end of the hour, Stasek, also a Mountain View City Council member, got a compliment from Coiro.

Stasek had delivered a somewhat passionate but eloquent statement about how the state needs to stop taking money from cities. '

"Boy, you're good," said Coiro to Stasek.

"She should go into radio if she doesn't stay in politics."