CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: ATASCADERO CITY COUNCIL COMMISSIONS SECOND SURVEY

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Chamber commissions second Wal-Mart survey [Atascadero News (Calif.)]

The Atascadero Chamber of Commerce has commissioned its second survey to gain information in regards to the business community’s desire for a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, an action which the locally-based Oppose Wal-Mart Group believes violates the organization’s nonprofit status.

The current survey, conducted by Los Angeles-based polling company Cardinal Communications, comes at a time when Atascadero voters are set to decide on a ballot measure designed to ban all supercenters and place a 150,000-square-foot cap on the size of big box development.

The survey follows an August 2007 phone poll commissioned by the chamber and funded by the companies with the highest investment in a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter, The Rottman Group and Wal-Mart, and involved calls to chamber members followed by calls to a random selection of the city’s business license list, chamber CEO and president Joanne Main said. But unlike the previous survey, Main said the current poll cost $1,500, which originated from the organization’s general fund.

The Atascadero Chamber of Commerce is registered as a 501 (c) (6) nonprofit and receives an annual stipend from the city, a fact which Oppose Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Comar believes stands in conflict with its urge for citizens to vote “No” on the November ballot measure backed by his group and known as the Atascadero Shield Initiative.

On Wednesday Comar said Oppose Wal-Mart intends to file a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission in relation to the matter.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the statute of regulations for 501(c) (6) organizations, business leagues, chambers of commerce or any other nonprofit group where net earnings do not benefit a private shareholder or individual allows such organizations to engage in lobbying provided that the lobbying is related to the organization’s exempt purpose. In addition, the IRS states these types of nonprofits can engage in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office provided that such intervention does not constitute the organization’s primary activity.

“The chamber is a fair trade organization and believes that business breeds business and we cannot exist on just revenue from a downtown region,” Main said. “We are in favor of [the Del Rio] intersection developing to its full potential. Wal-Mart owns the land; they have stepped up to the plate.”

The polling company hired by the chamber attempted to call 2,200 business owners and was able to reach 762 people who responded to four questions. These questions asked how many people businesses employed, if they offered benefits such as health insurance, how they rate the business climate in Atascadero and if they were in favor of a Wal-Mart Supercenter locating in the city.

Of the sample group, 51 percent said they were in favor of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, 23 percent said they were not, 16 percent were undecided and the remainder chose not to answer the question.

A release from the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors issued by Main states these figures display “overwhelming results” that the Atascadero business community is in favor of a Wal-Mart Supercenter “at a more than a 2-to-1 margin.” When questioned about the interpretation of the numbers Main said those who said they were undecided or chose not to answer the question about whether they favored an Atascadero Wal-Mart Supercenter were scrapped from the poll.

“Of the ones that answered, it’s 2-to-1,” she said. “[Cardinal Communications] stuck to the script and they got the answers. There’s no push poll in this, there’s just straight answers.”

In contrast, Oppose Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Comar said the poll shows 49 percent of business owners questioned are either against Wal-Mart, undecided to declined to answer.

“Fifty-one percent is hardly overwhelming after two years of Wal-Mart selling itself to the town,” he said. “Secondly we know that the pressure has been put on by the chamber to their board members to support the supercenter.”

Comar went on to state that he feels many chamber members are intimidated to go up against the organization’s pro-Wal-Mart stance despite the fact that the group purportedly represents their interest.

The measure, pushed by Oppose Wal-Mart and known as the Atascadero Shield Initiative, will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot after citizens gathered signatures from 10 percent of Atascadero’s registered voters, the figure needed to bring the measure to the Atascadero City Council. When faced with three options of passing the initiative outright, asking for a further study on its potential effects or placing the matter on the ballot, the council cast a 4-1 vote in favor of the last option in June. While the measure does not address Wal-Mart directly, the retailer is the only business that would be affected by a ban on supercenters through the initiative’s proposal.

Posted by Luke West on Friday, September 12, 2008