With the June 3 Davis City Council election just around the corner, candidates are ratcheting up efforts to get their names and messages out to voters.

Taking the form of mailers, websites and lawn posters, campaign publicity deals primarily with increasing name recognition, even while the major candidates in the race assert their aim to engage in a more substantive discourse with voters.

Incumbent candidate Stephen Souza said he attempts to use several forms of ‘information dissemination’ techniques to reach voters. This includes sending out mailers, providing press releases to local media and creating and distributing lawn signs.

Souza said several of these mediums, particularly lawn signs, attempt to present the candidate name to the public in a “very brief format.”

Lawn signs are costly, which is of particular concern to candidates close to maxing out their campaign contributions.

“It sure would be nice if we had another way of [presenting our names],” Souza said.

Some candidates in the race are focusing less on raising public awareness of their campaigns through lawn signs, particularly if they have already built broad name recognition within the community.

Running for her third term on the council, Mayor Sue Greenwald said she considers herself a “grassroots candidate.”

Greenwald said she sends mailers out to frequent voters to raise public awareness about her campaign. She also visits the Memorial Union regularly to discuss issues with students and distribute a brochure filled with campaign literature, she said.

Greenwald said her campaign relies heavily on ideas.

“I think initially I got elected because I wrote op-ed pieces and so there’s many ways to get elected,” she said. “The way I’ve always done it is by focusing on ideas.”

This time around Greenwald said she is banking on the name recognition she’s gained through her years of public service.

“I haven’t ever run a third time before, but I’m hoping name recognition will be sufficient to not to have to spend more money,” she said. “I really don’t like to call people and hound them for their money. Fundraising for me is unpleasant.”

Candidates said what voters focus on will depend on how much they care about the election.

“It depends upon the citizens,” Souza said. “Some want really in-depth information on every candidate so they’ll go to a website and get this, but some folks just want the quick sound-byte. Each and every voter will decide how much they want in the form of information on a candidate.”

As the money slowly drains out of campaign coffers, the independent actions of citizens themselves on behalf of candidates may prove crucial in spreading the message.

An independent expenditure campaign titled Delta Breeze has raised $1,500 in support of candidates Don Saylor, Sydney Vergis, and Souza, according to the Davis Enterprise. The money has primarily gone toward banners and T-shirts.

Souza said these campaigns are typical in the politics of any community, adding that recent changes to the city’s municipal election law tightened up reporting of expenditures to any amount over $250 with the city clerk’s office. The campaign must also notify all candidates in the race prior to the independent activity taking place.

Souza said that while he cannot necessarily rely on these campaigns, “it’s nice to have their support.”

“Sometimes I might not like what [independent expenditure campaigns] do, but it’s part of a democracy, any person has the right to express their opinion before voters,” he said.

Greenwald said that while these campaigns are legal under the Constitution, she doesn’t think they’re a good idea. In recent elections powerful firefighter unions desiring considerable wage hikes have donated exorbitant amounts to firefighter-friendly candidates, she added.

Under the current scheme, only eight of 40 firefighters are making under $147,000, and 10 fire captains are making close to $200,000 per year including benefits, she said.

“It’s a huge problem and this kind of campaigning is where it begins,” she said. “Money still does talk.”

CHINTAN DESAI can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com.

TUESDAY

Suspect substitute

Individual was spotted on a bench at a playground who matched the description of someone who was previously posing as a substitute teacher on Barony Place.

I was cold

A window to a residence was smashed and a jacket was taken on Alvarado Avenue.

How’d you do that?

Truck took out a stoplight at G and Fifth streets.

Take the food and run

Individual left the store with a cart full of food. Staff attempted to stop the individual until he got into a vehicle and drove away on Cowell Boulevard.

WEDNESDAY

Quite suspicious

A Styrofoam ice chest was taped with duct tape on Anderson Road.

Maybe they’ve been biking

Vehicle was not moved for about a month on Cowell Boulevard.

Purple people eater

A purple Saturn was driving recklessly on East Covell Boulevard.

Symbolism at its finest

A lamp was broken during a verbal argument on Albany Avenue.

THURSDAY

Wednesday night’s the new Friday night

A loud party complaint was made on Drew Circle.

How uncommon

Individual was drunk in public on Fifth and G streets.

POLICE BRIEFS are compiled by ANN KIM from the public logs at the Davis Police Department and represent the official version of what happened. This segment appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. The DPD crime blotter can be viewed at cityofdavis.org/police/log. 

If you’re the oldest in the family, you may be one of the unlucky ones in terms of allergies.

According to a recent study from the University of South Carolina, first-born children are at a higher risk of developing allergies and asthma because they experience different conditions in the uterus from their younger siblings.

“It’ll tell us what causes allergies and the real value of this teaches us how allergies develop, that’s why it will be very valuable,” said Jesse Joad, a professor of pediatric pulmonology at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

The researchers discovered that first-born babies were more likely to have high levels of an antibody called Immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the umbilical cord blood. The antibody plays a key role in allergic responses.

“There’s a whole of ton research on what causes babies to have allergies,” said Constance Caldwell, a physician with Yolo County health department. “Part of it, but not all of it, is explained by genetics.”

Researchers also believe that the variations in a gene called IL13, which controls the production of stress hormone called cytokine, can influence levels of IgE.

“It’s the first time that I’ve heard of this kind of explanation of allergies,” Caldwell said. “Just one gene affecting the baby turned on or not is fascinating.”

In the past, allergies have not been explained, but most assumed that they were passed on genetically.

“We know there’s some genetic component but we’ve never seen the variability in that,” Caldwell said. “Why is it expressed differently for different kids from the same family and environment?”

Some doctors and scientists followed what they called the hygiene hypothesis, which theorizes that siblings who have more exposure to infection will be less likely to develop allergies, Joad said.

“If you have a lot of [exposure to] infections you have a [lesser] tendency to have allergies,” she said. “If you have older brothers or sisters, then the first-born will go to school and get a bunch of infections and bring it home and will [pass] all those infections, and you will get moved over to the ‘not allergy’ side.”

Babies usually develop asthma because of their living environment, Joad said.

“We know that environmental things can affect you when you’re in the womb, and can make a difference after you’re born,” Joad said. “A known cause of asthma is exposure to tobacco smoke. Those things are preventable, but this one looks much more complicated.”

Some students actually notice that their oldest sibling is the only one with allergies.

“I am so glad I am not the first child in my family,” said first-year UC Davis history major Sarah Hollingsworth. “I am the youngest of the three in my family and my oldest sibling is the only one with allergies.”

The discovery may lead to a new breakthrough.

“Clearly, genetics is not the whole story, but part of the story, and this is another attempt to figure out the other half of the story,” Caldwell said. “It’s very hard to say [how legitimate this study is]. We need to evaluate the scientific article. You need a primary source, look at how they did their studies, statistics, look at their reference and how [they] funded the studies. It’s intriguing, but is it valid? I don’t know.”

JANET HUNG can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com

California’s massive adult entertainment industry might be able to help the state out of its current budgetary woes.

A bill working its way through the legislature aims to impose a 25 percent tax on income received from adult entertainment venues – colloquially referred to as strip clubs, adult bookstores and “peep shows.” It would also extend to the purchase of adult magazines, merchandise and pay-per-view movies.

Assembly Bill 2914, sponsored by Charles Calderon (D-Montebello), would use the tax revenue to mitigate the cost to taxpayers of “secondary effects” generated by the industry, such as law enforcement at adult venues, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other social services.

“There is a high rate of drug and alcohol abuse in the industry, STDs, mental health problems and pregnancies,” said Tom White, Calderon’s chief of staff. “The industry is such that oftentimes people get burned through and come out with nothing, no job skills or education, so they need job training or state services.”

The bill would create an Adult Entertainment Impact Fund and use the proceeds to fund state services utilized by the industry. It could raise as much as $665 million in tax revenue each year from the $4 billion per year adult entertainment industry, Calderon said.

“[Calderon] is carrying this bill because we’ve got a budget crisis and he looked around and found that we’ve got an industry huge in the state that by its presence creates an impact on services,” White said. “We believe they should pay for the impacts they have on the state and state services.”

Opponents of the bill argue it is unfair to tax them above standard corporate and sales taxes because the negative effects of adult entertainment venues are overblown.

“There are a lot of myths about the industry that are perpetuated,” said Angelina Spencer, executive director of the Association of Club Executives which represents adult nightclub owners. “They constantly talk about the harmful effects based on studies, but when you do more in-depth research on those studies, you find out that they aren’t viable.”

Spencer pointed to peer-reviewed studies conducted by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which found secondary effects of adult venues to be 70 percent fewer than often-cited numbers suggest.

“It’s really serious to me why those [studies] are excluded by legislators,” Spencer said.

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office has found, however, that the negative secondary effects of the industry are well established, according to the office’s report.

“When the city of Los Angeles conducted a comprehensive study of [adult entertainment venues] it concluded that such establishments are associated with higher rates of prostitution, robbery, assault and theft in surrounding communities,” wrote analyst M. David Ruff in the report.

Whether the effects of the industry are overstated or not, opponents of the bill argue that this is an arbitrary tax and unfairly targets a misunderstood industry.

“It’s not just about our members, it’s about any business segment,” Spencer said. “What arbitrarily starts in one industry could trickle down.”

The bill’s author maintains that this is not meant to make a value judgment on the industry.

“In no way is it a comment one way or another on the industry,” White said. “It is huge, it’s here and it’ll stay here. The bill is recognition that it’s here but not a comment on whether it’s good or bad.”

The bill is currently awaiting further consideration in the Revenue and Tax Committee and is expected to be heard by the committee in early June.

ALYSOUN BONDE can be reached at city@californiaaggie.com.