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San Jose Mercury News Environmentalists seeking a referendum against Cisco Systems' Coyote Valley campus have accused the technology giant of illegally interfering by hiring away their campaign workers.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Conrad Rushing declined Cisco opponents' request Friday to block the networking firm's efforts, but agreed to consider their complaint at a hearing Wednesday. The complaint by
People for Liveable and Affordable Neighborhoods, or PLAN, contends that Cisco's representatives offered their signature-gatherers more money to circulate petitions supporting the campus development. Cisco also told those workers
they could not continue circulating the referendum, opponents said. "It was a systematic attempt to make sure that this referendum drive fails," PLAN coordinator Jerry Mailhot said. "The whole purpose was to
siphon off our workforce. It's been working, to an extent. I figure I've lost 70 percent." Steve Langdon, spokesman for Cisco Systems Inc., said opponents are doing the same thing and that both sides are simply
competing for a limited number of campaign workers. Project foes, he said, are trying to get the courts to keep Cisco from legitimately defending itself. "It's a clever way to try to prohibit us from trying to gather
support for our project," Langdon said. "They've tried to hire away people from our effort. They may be disappointed with the results so far, but they shouldn't try to stop us from gathering signatures, too."
Mailhot said PLAN workers have asked Cisco petition-gatherers to join their campaign instead -- without success -- but haven't offered more money. "That's next to impossible," Mailhot said. "We don't have
the money to do that." Cisco opponents argue that the company's efforts are tantamount to paying people not to participate in a referendum campaign, a violation of election law. Three weeks ago, PLAN began
gathering signatures to qualify a ballot referendum that would overturn the city council's unanimous approval in October of Cisco's proposed 688-acre campus for 20,000 workers. If the referendum qualifies, Cisco will have
to stop construction until the election is held, probably in the spring. Critics say Cisco's $1.3 billion campus will bring urban sprawl to semi-rural Coyote Valley, choke roadways with traffic and make housing even harder
to afford because it doesn't include nearby homes for workers. The PLAN referendum, supported by local chapters of the Audubon Society and Sierra Club, requires 27,732 signatures from San Jose voters by Dec. 12 to qualify.
To ensure enough valid signatures, PLAN leaders said, they will need an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people to sign. PLAN leaders would not say how many signatures they have gathered so far, but Mailhot said, "We're at
the halfway point." Cisco has suspended its petition drive, but PLAN leaders will press for an injunction anyway, arguing that the company could resume its efforts. Page last updated November 4, 2001. |
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