Nishi Hot Dog Give Away: Currying favor or buying votes?

By Gilbert Coville

Last night John Whitcombe and the Yes on J campaign gave away free hot dogs at the Anderson Place Apartments in an attempt to convince voters to approve Nishi 2.0.  The Anderson Place Apartments complex, located on the corner of Hanover Place and Covell, is one of the 14 apartment complexes around Davis owned by Whitcombe and Tandem properties. I was not in attendance myself, so the following report and photographs are based on information that was given to me by individuals who prefer to remain anonymous.

Holding rallies like this where freebies are given away is legal so long as there is no quid pro quo. An example of quid pro quo would be if someone says, “I will give you a hot dog if you vote for my development.”  There is no evidence that there was quid pro quo at this event; however, it is eerily similar to some of Whitcombe’s past practices that resulted in a major Davis scandal.

In 2005 Whitcombe was campaigning for Measure X – a controversial major Whitcombe development north of town (Covell Village). During early voting, campaign workers for Yes on X distributed coupons for free pizza outside an early polling station on campus to people who voted. Paying people or offering free items to people in exchange for voting is not legal. This incident led to a scandal that was covered in the Aggie, The Davis Enterprise, and The Sacramento Bee and came to be known as Pizzagate.

The Whitcombe Pizzagate scandal was compounded by Yes on X campaign worker activities at the same on-campus polling station. A Yes on X campaign worker was removed as a Poll Judge for inappropriate activates at the polling station. The next day, the same campaign worker was spotted at the same polling station talking to voters. The infraction was serious enough that the Yolo County Clerk Recorder directed that the votes from that polling station be kept together and set aside in case there was a legal response.  However, Measure X was soundly defeated and there was no further legal action.

To advertise last night’s big hot dog giveaway, flyers were distributed to every tenant at the Tandem Anderson Place Apartments. These flyers pictured here were barely discernable as political pro-Measure J material. The headline on the flyers invites “Join us for a… picnic in the park” and simply asks, “Would you like to see NEW affordable student housing next to campus and downtown? Learn more about this project by attending our Resident Event.” After providing time and location it invites, “come and enjoy delicious food.”

Although the flyer never blatantly states that it is a political promotion and seems to hide that it is from a political campaign, the flyer is technically legal campaign material because in very fine print at the bottom it includes the political notice “Paid for by Davis Gateway Student Housing LLC & Affiliated Entities.”

Sources report that at the event itself that hot dogs and sweet treats were not simply given away to all comers. In order to get a hot dog one needed a ticket, and there was only one way to get a ticket – talk to Yes on J campaign workers or John Whitcombe himself. This “hot dog for a chance to bend your ear exchange” was caught on camera (see picture at the beginning of the article).

This is just the latest investment by Whitcombe and the Yes on J campaign in this election. To date the campaign reports over a quarter of a million dollars has been spent on the campaign in only a few months. By comparison, the No on J campaign has spent approximately $21,000.

At the February 6 City Council meeting placing Nishi 2.0 (which became Measure J) on the ballot, Whitcombe pleaded with the City Council not to increase his affordable housing requirement, claiming to be “right on the line.” But the significant investment in just the chance to have the controversial Nishi development approved is clearly worth a lot of money to Whitcombe and the other Nishi developers.